The 

Commercial  Tercentenary 

of  New  York 
1614-1914 


Reprinted  from  the  First  Annual  Report  of  the 
New^York  Commercial  Tercentenary  Commission 
to  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York 


Containing  a  Brief  History  of  the 
Beginning  of  the  Regularly  Chartered 
.Commerce  of  New  Netherland  and 
the  Permanent  Settlement  of  what 
is   now   the   State   of    New  York 


The  New  York  Commercial  Tercentenary  Commission 
No.  154  Nassau  Street,  New  York 
1914 


Avery  Architectural  and  Fine  Arts  Library 
Gift  of  Seymour  B.  Durst  Old  York  Library 


1614—1914 


Commemorative  Meeting 


Upon  the  300th  Anniversary  of  the  Grant- 
ing, by  the  States  General  of  the  United 
Netherlands,  of  the  firsT:  Charter  for  Trading 
to  what  is  now  the  State  of  New  York 


Under  the  Auspices  of 
The  New  York  Commercial 
Tercentenary  Commission 


At  the  Hotel  A&or, 
New  York  City 
Friday  Evening,  March  27, 
1914 


Program 


Three  Hundredth  Anniversary  of  the  Beginning  of  the 
Chartered  Commerce  of  New  York 


Organ  Recital  from  8.15  to 
8.30  p.  m.  by  Arthur  Bergh 

Acknowledgment  of  Divine  Blessings  of  Three  Centuries 
of  Growth  and  Prosperity,  by  Monsignor  M.  J. 
Lavelle,  Vicar  General,  representing  His  Eminence 
John  Cardinal  Farley. 

"The  Second  City  of  the  World,"  by  His  Honor  the 
Mayor  of  New  York,  John  Purroy  Mitchel. 

Soprano  Solo  by  Miss  Grace  Hoffman, 

"Care  Nome"  from  **  Rigoletto,"  Verdi 

"  The  North  American  Indian  of  Three  Hundred  Years 
Ago,"  by  Fillmore  Jackson,  an  Iroquois  Indian. 

"  The  North  American  Indian  of  Today  and  Tomorrow," 
by  Dr.  Joseph  Kossuth  Dixon,  leader  of  the  Rod- 
man Wanamaker  expeditions  among  the  Indians. 

"  The  United  Netherlands,"  by  Hon.  A.  van  de  Sande 
Bakhuyzen,  Consul  of  the  Netherlands  at  New 

York. 

"Fort  Orange,  the  First  Permanent  Settlement  in  New 
Netherland,"  by  His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Albany, 
Joseph  W.  Stevens. 

Piano  Solo  by  Albert  von  Doenhoff 

Polonaise  in  A  flat,  Chopin 


"The  First  Families  of  New  Netherlands  by  Tunis  G. 
Bergen,  LL.  D.,  ex-President  of  the  Holland  Soci- 
ety, descendant  of  first  white  child  born  in  New 
Nether  land. 

"The  New  Route  to  Cathay,"  by  Hon.  Theodore  P. 
Shonts,  Chairman  of  the  Isthmian  Canal  Com- 
mission, 1905-1907,  under  President  Roosevelt. 

"  The  Merchants  of  New  York,'*  by  Samuel  W.  Fairchild, 
manufacturer  and  merchant,  President  of  the 
Union  League  Club. 

Baritone  Solos  by  James  Stanley 

(a)  "  The  Night  Rider,"  Bergh 

(b)  "  Lundgi  dal  Caro  Bene,"  Fecchi 

(c)  "  A  Red,  Red  Rose,"  Hastings 

"  The  Relations  of  Education  and  Commerce,"  by  Elmer 
Ellsworth  Brown,  Ph.  D.,  LL.  D.,  Chancellor  of 
New  York  University,  formerly  United  States 
Commissioner  of  Education. 

"The  Relations  of  Art  and  Commerce,"  by  Edwin  H. 
Blashfield,  artist,  President  of  the  Society  of  Mural 
Painters. 

"  The  Relations  of  Science  and  Commerce,''  by  George 
Frederick  Kunz,  Ph.  D.,  Sc.  D.,  scientist,  President 
of  the  New  York  Academy  of  Sciences. 

Benediction  by  Right  Rev.  David  H.  Greer,  D.D.,  Bishop 
of  the  Diocese  of  New  York. 

Organ  Postlude  by  Arthur  Bergh 

Music  under  the  direction  of  Prof.  Henry  T.  Fleck,  head  of  the 
Music  Department  of  the  Normal  College  of  the  City  of  New  York. 

Ushers  from  the  Boy  Scouts  of  America :  Lorillard  Spencer,  Presi- 
dent of  New  York  City  Council ;  Charles  L.  Pollard,  Executive  Deputy  Scout 
Commissioner. 


Steinway  Piano  used. 


The  New  York 
Commercial  Tercentenary 
Commission 


Officers 
President 

Cornelius  Vanderbilt,  30  Pine  St.,  New  York 

Vice-Presidents 

Hon.  Herman  Ridder,  182  William  St.,  New  York 

Vincent  Astor  John  D.  Rockefeller,  Jr. 

August  Belmont  Col.  Henry  W.  Sackett 

Andrew  Carnegie,  LL.  D.  Jacob  H.  Schiff 

Gen.  Howard  Carroll  Isaac  N.  Seligman 

Hon.  George  B.  Cortelyou  Hon.  Theodore  P.  Shonts 

George  J.  Gould  Hon.  R.  A.  C.  Smith 

George  F.  Kunz,  Ph.  D.,  Sc.  D.  James  Speyer 

Clarence  H.  Mackay  Henry  R.  Towne 

Hon.  Morgan  J.  O'Brien  Theodore  N.  Vail 

Hon.  Alton  B.  Parker  William  Ziegler,  Jr. 

Treasurer 

Messrs.  J.  P.  Morgan  &  Co. 

Secretary 

Edward  Hagaman  Hall,  L.H.D.,  Tribune  Building,  New  York 

Assistant  Secretary 

A.  E.  MacKinnon. 


Note 

The  representatives  of  the  original  proprietors  of  New  Netherlands  in 
attendance  at  this  meeting  are  Iroquois  Indians  from  the  Cattaraugus,  N.  Y. 
Reservation.  Their  civilized  names  are  Fillmore  Jackson,  Walter  Kennedy, 
Beemus  Pierce,  Theodore  Jameson,  Orlando  Doxstadter,  Frank  Logan,  Heeman 
Bennett,  Frank  Kennedy,  Hiram  Printup  and  Miss  Anna  Pattison. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2013 


http://archive.org/details/commercialtercenOOnewy 


The 

ommercial  Tercentenary 
of  New  York 


1614-1914 


Reprinted  from  the  First  Annual  Report  of  the 
New  York  Commercial  Tercentenary  Commission 
to  the   Legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York 


Containing  a  Brief  History  of  the  Beginning 
of  the  Regularly  Chartered  Commerce  of 
New  Netherland  and  the  Permanent  Settle- 
ment of  what  is  now  the  State  of  New  York 


The  New  York  Commercial  Tercentenary  Commission 
No.  154  Nassau  Street,  New  York 
1914 


art 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 


Letter  of  transmittal   5 

Organization  of  the  Commission   7 

By-laws  of  the  Commission   8 

Financial  Affairs   9 

Official  Flag   10 

Plan  of  the  Celebration   10 

Headquarters  of  the  Commission   14 

Officers  of  the  Commission   14 

Chairmen  of  Committees   15 

Members  of  the  Commission   16 


APPENDIX 

The  New  York  Commercial  Tercentenary:  Being  a  Brief  History  of  the 
Primitive  Conditions,  the  Beginning  of  the  Commerce  and  the 
Permanent  Settlement  of  New  Netherland,  Prepared  from  Original 


Sources   21 

Introduction   23 

Primitive  Conditions  in  New  Netherland   29 

Return  of  Half  Moon  to  Holland  in  1609-1610   41 

Voyages  to  New  Netherland  in  1610   43 

Search  for  Northeast  and  Northwest  Passages  in  1610-1611   45 

Voyages  to  the  Hudson  in  1611-1613   46 

Argall's  Alleged  Visit  to  Manhattan  Island  in  1613   49 

Beginning  of  Chartered  Trade  in  1614   54 

Building  of  the  First  Ship  in  New  Netherland  in  1614   58 

The  Figurative  Maps  of  1614   61 

Building  of  Fort  Nassau  at  Albany  in  1614   64 

Significance  of  the  Year  1614   66 

Commerce  Continued  Until  Permanent  Settlement   68 

What  Constitutes  "Settlement"   69 

Permanent  Settlement  of  Fort  Orange  in  1624   71 

Commercial  Prosperity  in  1624  and  1625   74 

Colony  Reinforced  in  1625   75 

Permanent  Settlement  of  New  Amsterdam  in  1626   77 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


FACING 
PAGE 

Old  Amsterdam  in  Holland.  Part  of  an  engraving  of  1606.  The  low, 
round  tower  with  conical  roof  is  the  Schreyerstoren  or  Weeper's  Tower, 
from  which  friends  of  mariners  watched  the  departure  of  ships  for  New 
Netherland.  This  tower,  built  in  1482,  is  still  standing.  The  shipping 
is  of  the  period  when  commerce  with  New  Netherland  began.  In  the 
upper  right  hand  corner,  the  City  of  Amsterdam  is  personified  by  a 
woman,  holding  in  her  right  hand  a  ship  and  in  her  left  hand  a  shield 
which  displays  the  City's  coat-of-arms.  Approaching  her  are  Mercury, 
the  god  of  trade,  and  merchants  of  all  nations  with  their  products. 
The  words  "  Mercury  "  and  "  merchant  "  come  from  the  same  Latin 


root  meaning  trade   1 

Fort  Orange,  now  Albany,  permanently  settled  in  1624.  From  a  mural 
painting  by  Elmer  E.  Garnsey  in  the  United  States  Custom  House, 

New  York   8 

The  Purchase  of  Manhattan  Island  from  the  Indians  in  1626.  From  a 
painting  by  Alfred  Fredericks  for  the  New  York  Title  Guarantee  and 
Trust  Company   16 


New  Amsterdam,  now  New  York,  permanently  settled  in  1626.  From  a 
painting  by  E.  L.  Henry  for  the  New  York  Title  Guarantee  and  Trust 
Company.  The  extreme  southern  end  of  Manhattan  Island  was  called 
by  the  Dutch  the  Schreyershoeck,  or  Weeper's  Point,  for  a  reason 
similar  to  that  for  the  name  of  the  Schreyerstoren  in  old  Amsterdam .  24 

Fortified  Indian  Village.  From  an  etching  by  De  Bry,  illustrating  Hariot's 
Relations,  1590,  based  on  drawing  made  by  John  White  in  Virginia. 
While  it  depicts  the  manner  in  which  the  coastal  Algonquins,  to  whom 
the  Manhattan  tribes  belonged,  built  their  cabins  and  fortified  their 


villages,  yet  the  same  methods  prevailed  among  the  Iroquois  also ....  32 
Making  an  Indian  Canoe.  From  an  etching  by  De  Bry,  illustrating  Hariot's 
Relation,  1590,  based  on  a  drawing  made  by  John  White  in  Virginia. 
It  represents  the  method  of  hollowing  a  canoe  out  of  a  solid  log  with 
the  aid  of  fire,  practiced  by  the  coastal  Algonquins.  The  Manhattan 
Indians  used  canoes  of  this  kind.    The  Iroquois  made  fighter  craft  of 

birch  bark   40 

Indians  Broiling  Fish.  From  an  etching  by  DeBry,  illustrating  Hariot's 
Relations,  1590,  after  a  drawing  by  John  White.    A  custom  of  the 

coastal  Algonquins   48 

Indians  "Seetheynge  Their  Meate  in  Earthen  Pottes."  From  an  etching 
by  DeBry,  illustrating  Hariot's  Relations,  1590,  after  a  drawing  by 
John  White.    A  custom  of  the  coastal  Algonquins   64 


The  First  Map  of  Manahata  and  Manhatin.  Extract  from  a  copy  of  a 
map  made  by  an  Englishman  in  1610;  surreptitiously  obtained  by 
Alonso  de  Velasco,  Spanish  Ambassador  to  England,  and  sent  to 
Philip  III;  now  in  the  General  Archives  of  Simancas.  An  outline  of 
the  whole  map,  from  which  this  extract  is  copied,  is  in  Brown's  "Gen- 
esis of  the  United  States,"  published  by  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co  

Inside  of  back  cover 

[4] 


STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 


No.  25 


IN  ASSEMBLY 


March  4,  1914 


New  York  Commercial  Tercentenary  Commission 

Incorporated  by  Chapter  3 1  3  of  the  Laws  of  1913  of  the 
State  of  New  York  to  Celebrate  in  1914  the  300th 
Anniversary  of  the  Beginning  of  the  Chartered 
Commerce  of  New  York 


No.  154  Nassau  Street,  New  York 

March  2,  1914. 

Hon.  Thaddeus  C.  Sweet,  Speaker  of  the  Assembly,  Albany, 


Sir. —  Pursuant  to  Chapter  313  of  the  Laws  of  1913,  I  have 
the  honor  to  transmit  herewith  to  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of 
New  York  the  first  Annual  Report  of  the  New  York  Commercial 
Tercentenary  Commission. 


President 
CORNELIUS  VANDERBILT 


Presiding  Vice-President 
HON.  HERMAN  RIDDER 


N.  Y.: 


Yours  respectfully, 

CORNELIUS  VANDERBILT, 


President. 


[5] 


FIRST  ANNUAL  REPORT 

OF  THE 

New  York  Commercial  Tercentenary  Commission 


Organization  of  the  Commission 

New  York,  March  2,  1914. 

To  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York: 

The  New  York  Commercial  Tercentenary  Commission,  incor- 
porated by  chapter  313  of  the  Laws  of  1913,  respectfully  pre- 
sents this  its  first  Annual  Report. 

This  Commission  is  the  outgrowth  of  a  citizens'  committee 
appointed  by  the  late  Mayor  William  J.  Gaynor  of  the  City  of 
New  York  in  December,  1912,  upon  the  request  of  a  number  of 
prominent  merchants,  business  houses,  boards  of  trade  and  com- 
mercial exchanges  of  New  York  City,  and  was  incorporated  by 
special  act  of  the  Legislature  for  the  purpose  of  celebrating  in 
1914  the  three  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  granting  of  the  first 
charters  by  the  States  General  of  the  United  Netherlands  for 
trading  to  New  Netherland. 

The  history  of  the  events  commemorated  are  set  forth  in  a 
monograph  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Commission  appended  to  this 
Report. 

The  names  of  the  members  of  the  Commission  are  given  here- 
with. They  consist  of  the  gentlemen  named  in  the  act  of  incor- 
poration, and  those  who  were  previously  or  have  been  subsequently 
associated  with  them  by  appointment  by  the  Governor  of  the  State 
or  the  Mayor  of  the  City  of  New  York ;  also  the  Mayors  of  all  the 
cities  of  the  State  and  the  Presidents  of  the  incorporated  villages 
of  the  Hudson  Valley,  ex  officio. 

Section  5  of  the  charter  of  the  Commission  provides  that  no 
member  of  the  Commission,  except  the  Secretary  and  one  or  more 

[7] 


8 


assistants  to  the  Secretary,  shall  receive  any  compensation  for 
services  or  be  pecuniarily  interested,  directly  or  indirectly,  in  any 
contract  relating  to  its  affairs. 

The  Commission  permanently  organized  on  May  14,  1913, 
when  the  following  By-laws  were  adopted : 

By-laws  of  the  Commission 

ARTICLE  I. 

Section  1.  Office.  The  office  and  place  of  business  of  the  New  York 
Commercial  Tercentenary  Commission  shall  be  in  the  City  of  New  York,  where 
all  meetings  shall  be  held  unless  otherwise  ordered  by  the  Trustees. 

Section  2.  Trustees'  Meetings.  The  regular  meetings  of  the  Trustees  shall 
be  held  on  the  fourth  Wednesday  of  each  month,  provided  that  when  such 
date  of  meeting  shall  fall  on  a  holiday,  the  meeting  shall  be  held  on  the 
following  day. 

Section  3.  Annual  Meeting.  The  Annual  Meeting  of  the  members  of  the 
Commission  for  the  election  of  Trustees  and  for  the  transaction  of  such  other 
business  as  may  come  before  it  shall  be  held  on  the  first  Wednesday  after  the 
first  Monday  of  May,  each  year,  at  3  p.  m. 

Section  4.  Other  Meetings.  Other  meetings  of  the  Trustees  or  Commission 
may  be  held  upon  the  call  of  the  President,  and  must  be  called  by  him  upon 
the  written  request  of  ten  Trustees. 

Section  5.  Quorum.  At  meetings  of  the  Trustees  ten  shall  constitute  a 
quorum,  and  at  meetings  of  the  Commission  the  members  who  are  present 
shall  constitute  a  quorum. 

Section  6.  Notices.  Notices  of  meetings  of  the  Trustees  shall  be  sent  to 
each  Trustee  at  least  two  days  before  the  time  of  meeting. 

ARTICLE  II. 

Section  1.  Officers.  The  officers  of  the  Commission  shall  be  a  President, 
twenty-five  Vice-Presidents,  a  Secretary  and  a  Treasurer,  all  of  whom  shall  be 
Trustees,  and  shall  be  elected  annually  at  the  meeting  of  the  Trustees  in 
May  and  shall  hold  office  for  one  year,  and  until  others  are  elected  in  their 
stead.  There  may  be  one  or  more  Assistant  Secretaries  who  shall  be  appointed 
by  and  hold  office  at  the  pleasure  of  the  Trustees. 

Section  2.  Trustees.  The  number  of  Trustees  shall  be  100,  who  shall  be 
elected  annually  by  the  persons  named  and  designated  in  the  first  section  of 
the  Charter.  The  Trustees  named  in  the  Charter  may  appoint  additional 
Trustees  to  hold  office  until  the  election  in  1914,  but  the  whole  number  of 
Trustees  shall  not  at  any  time  exceed  100. 

Section  3.  Vacancies.  Vacancies  in  the  Board  of  Trustees  or  Officers  may 
be  filled  for  the  unexpired  term  by  a  majority  vote  of  the  Trustees  present  at 
any  duly  called  meeting.  When  a  Trustee  shall  have  absented  himself  from 
three  successive  meetings,  the  Trustees  may,  in  their  discretion,  declare  the 
office  vacant,  and  elect  a  Trustee  for  the  unexpired  term. 

Section  4.  President.  The  President  shall  preside  at  all  meetings  of  the 
Trustees  and  of  the  Commission;  he  shall  appoint  all  committees;  and  be 
Chairman  of  the  Executive  Committee  and  ex  officio  a  member  of  all  standing 
committees  except  when  otherwise  expressly  relieved  from  such  service,  and  he 
shall  have  a  general  supervision  of  the  affairs  of  the  Commission. 

Section  5.  Vice-Presidents.  In  the  absence  of  the  President  or  his  inability 
to  act,  one  of  the  Vice-Presidents,  to  be  designated  by  him  in  writing,  shall 
perform  his  duties  and  possess  his  powers.  If  he  makes  no  designation,  it 
shall  be  made  by  the  Trustees. 

Section  6.  Treasurer,  The  Treasurer  shall  receive,  collect  and  hold,  sub- 
ject to  the  order  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  all  moneys,  securities  and  deeds 


9 


belonging  or  due  to  the  Commission,  pay  all  bills  when  approved  by  the  Trus- 
tees or  the  Executive  Committee,  deposit  all  money  of  the  Commission  in  some 
depository  to  be  approved  by  the  Trustees,  and  render  a  report  of  the  finances 
at  each  meeting  o.  the  Board  of  Trustees  and  at  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the 
Commission.  Money  shall  be  drawn  only  on  the  check  of  the  Treasurer, 
countersigned  by  the  President  or  Secretary. 

Section  7.  Secietary.  Ihe  Secretary  shall  keep  the  records  of  the  Com- 
mission, of  the  Board  of  Trustees  and  of  Committees,  issue  all  notices,  and 
perform  the  other  duties  ordinarily  incident  to  that  office,  and  when  directed 
by  the  Trustees,  affix  the  seal  of  the  Commission. 

Section  8.  Assistant  Secretaries.  The  Assistant  Secretaries  shall  perform 
such  duties  as  may  be  assigned  to  them. 

ARTICLE  in. 

Section  1.  Order  of  Business.  The  order  of  business  of  meetings  of  the 
Commission  shall  be  as  follows,  unless  otherwise  ordered:  1,  Roll  call;  2, 
Reading  of  minutes  of  the  meetings  not  previously  read;  3,  Election  of  Trus- 
tees; 4,  Report  of  Treasurer;  5,  Reports  of  Committees;  6,  Communications; 
7,  Miscellaneous  business. 

Section  2.  Reports,  Resolutions  and  Votes.  At  meetings  of  the  Commis- 
sion and  Board  of  Trustees,  reports  and  resolutions  shall  be  in  writing.  The 
yeas  and  nays  shall  be  called  on  all  resolutions  authorizing  the  expenditure 
of  money,  and  on  all  other  questions,  when  requested  by  one  member. 

ARTICLE  IV. 

Executive  Committee.  There  shall  be  an  Executive  Committee  which  shall 
consist  of  the  Officers  of  the  Commission  and  twenty-five  other  Trustees.  It 
shall  have  general  management  of  the  affairs  of  the  Commission,  subject  to 
the  approval  of  the  Trustees,  and  shall  meet  at  least  once  a  month.  Seven 
of  its  number  shall  constitute  a  quorum.  It  shall  elect  one  of  its  number 
as  Vice-Chairman,  who  shall  preside  in  the  absence  of  the  Chairman,  and  who 
shall  perform  such  other  duties  as  may  be  conferred  upon  him  by  such  Com- 
mittee, not  inconsistent  with  these  By-lawrs.  It  shall  appoint  such  sub-com- 
mittees and  confer  such  powers  thereon  as  it  may  deem  advisable.  A  special 
meeting  of  the  Executive  Committee  must  be  called  by  the  Chairman  upon 
the  written  request  of  five  members,  the  purpose  of  such  meeting  to  be  stated 
in  the  call. 

ARTICLE  V. 

Seal.  The  seal  of  the  Commission  shall  be  (description  to  be  inserted  after 
the  adoption  of  the  seal). 

ARTICLE  VI. 

Amendments.  Amendments  to  these  By-laws  may  be  proposed  in  writing 
at  any  meeting  of  the  Trustees.  If  twenty-five  of  the  Trustees  be  present,  any 
amendment  may  be  adopted  by  unanimous  consent;  otherwise  it  shall  be  post- 
poned until  a  subsequent  meeting,  in  which  case  the  Secretary  shall,  with  the 
notice  of  the  next  meeting,  send  a  copy  of  the  proposed  amendment,  stating 
that  it  will  be  brought  up  for  action  at  such  meeting,  when  it  may  be  passed 
by  a  majority  vote. 

Financial  Affairs 

In  view  of  the  significance  of  the  celebration  to  the  business, 
commercial  and  industrial  interests  of  the  State  and  City,  the 
Commission  hopes  that  both  the  State  and  City  governments  will 
make  liberal  appropriations  for  its  purposes.  Such  appropria- 
tions, it  expects,  will  be  reinforced  by  generous  private  subscrip- 
2 


10 


tions.  Up  to  the  present  time,  the  running  expenses  of  the  Com- 
mission have  been  met  by  contributions  of  the  Trustees. 

Official  Flag 

The  official  flag  of  the  Commission,  adopted  January  28,  1914, 
consists  of  three  vertical  bars,  Nassau  blue,  white  and  Nassau 
orange,  the  blue  bar  at  the  staff.  In  the  center  of  the  white  bar, 
the  coat-of-arms. 

Charge:  Upon  a  shield  argent  a  marine  view;  in  base  a  Dutch 
merchant  vessel  under  sail  on  a  body  of  water,  all  proper;  sky 
argent  and  azure. 

Crest:  On  a  wreath  azure  and  argent  a  Dutch  windmill 
proper. 

Supporters:  On  a  quasi-compartment  formed  by  the  extension 
of  the  ribbon  or  scroll :  Dexter:  A  Dutch  merchantman  proper ; 
Dutch  hat  proper;  vested  vert;  about  the  waist  a  belt  gules; 
hose  and  shoes  sable ;  buckles  on  shoes  or ;  in  the  dexter  hand  a 
charter  scroll  argent;  the  sinister  arm  embowed,  hand  supporting 
shield  at  the  dexter  chief  point.  Sinister:  A  North  American 
Indian  proper ;  hair  dressed  and  decorated  with  feathers ;  about 
the  waist,  skins  proper;  feet  moccasined  proper;  in  the  sinister 
hand  a  pelt ;  the  dexter  arm  embowed,  hand  supporting  the  shield 
at  the  sinister  chief  point. 

Motto:  Below  the  shield  on  a  scroll  argent,  azure  and  or 
1614-1914. 

Plan  of  Celebration 

It  is  proposed  to  begin  the  Celebration  on  Friday,  March  27, 
1914,  the  three  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  granting  of  the  first 
general  charter  by  the  States  General  of  the  United  Netherlands 
for  trading  to  this  region.  On  this  date  it  is  intended  to  have  an 
Historical  Meeting,  with  certain  religious  features. 

On  the  following  Saturday  and  Sunday,  March  28  and  29,  it 
is  recommended  that  the  congregations  of  all  religious  denomina- 
tions hold  services  of  praise  and  thanksgiving  for  the  blessings  of 
three  centuries  of  progress. 

The  foregoing  meetings  will  sound  the  keynote  of  the  celebra- 
tion, afford  an  opportunity  to  acquaint  the  public  with  the  plans 
for  later  events  and  serve  to  stimulate  popular  participation  in 
them. 


J 1 


It  is  proposed  that  the  following  months  of  April  and  May  be 
devoted  to  various  forms  of  commemoration  in  both  the  ele- 
mentary and  higher  institutions  of  learning.  On  days  to  be  deter- 
mined by  the  respective  educational  authorities  it  is  recommended 
that  there  be  commemorative  exercises  in  the  public  schools,  with 
prize  essays  and  orations  and  illustrated  lectures  for  adults  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Board  of  Education ;  educational  symposiums 
by  our  universities,  to  which  the  great  teachers  of  the  world  may 
be  invited ;  the  holding  of  a  comparative  exhibition  of  the  pro- 
gress of  commercial  education  in  American  and  foreign  cities ; 
the  establishment  of  a  permanent  exchange  of  students  and 
teachers  of  commercial  subjects  between  New  York  and  the  lead- 
ing centers  of  commercial  education  abroad ;  and  the  establish- 
ment of  permanent  offices  of  international  information  on  these 
subjects.  It  is  possible  that  at  this  time,  or  later  in  the  year,  the 
opening  of  the  new  College  of  Administration  and  Commerce  may 
be  made  a  feature  of  the  celebration. 

Beginning  in  the  month  of  June  and  continuing  through  July 
and  August  and  into  September,  it  is  proposed  to  hold  a  series  of 
exhibitions  of  the  material  resources  of  the  various  States  of  the 
Union. 

The  Commission  is  advised  that  numerous  commercial  bodies 
in  different  parts  of  the  country  will  be  glad  to  participate.  The 
period  of  the  exhibition  will  be  divided  into  five  successive  parts, 
each  part  being  devoted  to  one  grand  division  of  the  country.  It 
is  expected  to  hold  them  in  the  Grand  Central  Palace,  New  York 
City,  for  which  an  option  has  been  secured  by  the  Commission. 
The  dates  planned  for  the  exhibitions  are  as  follows,  an  interval 
of  about  a  week  being  allowed  after  each  of  the  first  four  for 
changing  to  the  next : 

1st.  Monday,  June  8,  to  Saturday,  June  20. 

2d.  Saturday,  June  27,  to  Saturday,  July  11. 

3d.  Saturday,  July  18,  to  Saturday,  August  1. 

4th.  Saturday,  August  8,  to  Saturday,  August  22. 

5th.  Saturday,  August  29,  to  Saturday,  September  12. 

During  these  exhibitions  there  will  be  an  exhibition  by  the 
older  commercial  houses  of  New  York  showing  the  business 
progress  of  the  City. 


12 


During  the  months  of  June,  July  and  August,  it  is  proposed  to 
hold  athletic  meets,  children's  festivals  and  local  fiestas  by  the 
people  of  different  nationalities  in  all  parts  of  the  City. 

Early  in  September*  it  is  proposed  that  the  leading  museums, 
historical  societies  and  technical  societies  open  exhibitions  appro- 
priate to  the  events  commemorated,  the  exhibitions  to  remain 
open  until  the  close  of  the  Celebration  about  the  middle  of  Octo- 
ber. One  week  devoted  to  the  opening  of  exhibitions  on  successive 
days  by  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art,  the  American  Museum 
of  Natural  History,  the  New  York  Historical  Society,  the  Brook- 
lyn Institute  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  the  New  York  Zoological 
Garden,  and  the  New  York  Botanical  Garden,  is  expected  to  lend 
dignity  and  emphasis  to  this  part  of  the  Celebration. 

In  view  of  the  important  relation  of  the  Panama  Canal  to  the 
commerce  of  New  York,  as  well  as  that  of  the  world,  it  is  pro- 
posed that  the  practical  opening  of  the  Canal  in  1914  be  celebrated 
by  suitable  exercises  on  land  and  water.  As  the  most  convenient 
time  for  a  parade  of  merchant  and  passenger  vessels  and  pleasure 
craft  would  be  the  second  week  of  September,  it  is  recommended 
that  this  observance  be  set  for  the  week  beginning  Monday, 
September  7. 

During  this  week  it  is  planned  to  hold  a  Pan-American  Con- 
gress at  which  the  commercial  relations  of  New  York,  and  the 
United  States  generally,  with  the  other  nations  of  the  two 
Americas  may  be  discussed. 

During  the  same  week  of  September  7  it  is  recommended  that 
there  be  local  celebrations  in  the  Cities  along  the  Erie  Canal, 
beginning  at  Buffalo  and  proceeding  eastward  day  by  day  to  Koch- 
chester,  Auburn,  Syracuse,  Utica,  Schenectady  and  Troy. 

In  the  week  beginning  Monday,  September  14,  it  is  proposed 
to  recognize  the  Centennial  of  Peace  between  the  English-speaking 
peoples. 

As  a  part  of  the  Peace  Jubilee,  it  is  recommended  that  a  Music 
Festival  on  a  large  scale  be  held,  in  which  instrumental  and  sing- 
ing societies  shall  be  invited  to  participate. 

*  The  dates,  for  the  events  proposed  for  the  early  part  of  September  will 
probably  be  readjusted  so  as  not  to  conflict  with  the  Cup  Races. 


13 


During  the  week  of  September  14  it  is  recommended  that  there 
be  local  celebrations  in  the  Cities  of  the  Southern  Tier  of  Counties 
of  this  State. 

The  week  beginning  Monday,  September  21,  is  reserved  mainly 
for  local  celebrations  along  the  Hudson  Eiver,  and  in  recognition 
of  the  prior  permanent  settlement  of  Albany  (Fort  Orange)  it  is 
proposed  that  these  celebrations  begin  at  the  upper  end  of  the 
river  and  work  southward  instead  of  beginning  at  the  lower  end 
and  going  northward,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Hudson-Fulton 
Celebration. 

By  the  foregoing  arrangement,  it  will  be  observed  that  the  local 
celebrations  throughout  the  State  will  have  been  concluded  before 
the  last  two  weeks  of  the  Celebration  in  New  York,  leaving  the 
Cities  of  the  State  free  to  participate  in  the  display  of  Cities  in 
New  York  mentioned  hereafter. 

During  the  week  beginning  on  Monday,  September  28,  it  is 
recommended  that  there  be  in  New  York  City  a  Pageant  of  States, 
in  which  all  the  States  of  the  Union  shall  be  invited  to  participate, 
each  State  to  furnish  one  or  more  floats  representing  its  history 
or  its  resources.  It  is  recommended  that  this  pageant  be  repeated 
on  different  days  in  each  of  the  five  boroughs  of  the  City. 

With  respect  to  these  parades  and  those  of  the  following  week, 
it  has  been  suggested  that  some,  if  not  most  of  them,  be  held  in  the 
evening,  when  the  people  of  the  City  generally  are  not  employed 
and  when  business  will  not  be  interrupted.  As  a  consequence,  the 
general  illumination  of  the  streets  would  begin  this  week. 

During  the  closing  week,  beginning  Monday,  October  5,  it  is 
recommended  that  there  be  four  street  parades,  namely  (1)  a 
merchants'  and  manufacturers'  parade,  in  which  the  business 
houses  of  the  City  shall  be  represented;  (2)  an  automobile 
parade;  (3)  a  Pageant  of  Cities,  in  which  New  York  and  the 
other  cities  of  the  State  shall  be  represented  by  municipal  depart- 
ment exhibits  or  otherwise;  and  (4)  a  parade  of  men  from  the 
ships  of  the  United  States  and  foreign  navies  and  from  the  pas- 
senger and  merchant  ships  in  the  harbor. 

It  is  recommended  that  the  last  parade  above  mentioned  be  held 
on  Saturday,  October  10,  in  conjunction  with  the  laying  of  the 


14 


corner-stone  or  inauguration  of  a  permanent  memorial  of  some 
kind.  It  is  suggested  that  the  permanent  memorial  be  not  a 
monument  or  statue,  but  a  public  work,  such  as  a  ceremonial 
water-gate,  a  permanent  reviewing  stand  for  public  ceremonies,  a 
stadium,  a  public  building  or  institution,  such  as  an  industrial 
museum,  or  a  park  or  a  bridge.  The  Commission,  through  its 
Committee  on  Memorials,  has  already  devoted  a  great  deal  of 
time  and  consideration  to  this  subject,  and  at  the  present  writing 
the  prospect  is  that  the  recommendation  of  the  Commission  will 
embrace  a  plan  which  will  combine  a  water-gate,  commercial 
museum,  and  assembly  hall. 

Other  features  of  the  closing  week  will  be  a  naval  review,  an 
official  banquet,  entertainment  for  the  sailors,  etc. 

As  October  11,  the  three  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  granting 
of  the  first  special  charter  for  trading  to  New  Netherland,  falls 
on  Sunday,  it  is  recommended  that  the  Celebration  close  on  this 
day,  as  it  will  have  begun  on  March  27,  with  religious  observance. 

The  foregoing  are  the  principal  features  of  the  plans  as  now 
contemplated,  but  many  additional  features  have  been  suggested, 
if  practicable. 

The  Commission  has  employed  Mr.  A.  H.  Stoddard  as  Director 
of  Commercial  Exhibits  and  Pageantry. 

Headquarters  of  the  Commission 

The  headquarters  of  the  Commission  are  at  No.  154  Nassau 
Street,  New  York. 

Officers  of  the  Commission 

Following  is  a  list  of  the  Officers  of  the  Commission,  the  Chair- 
men of  Committees  and  members  of  the  Commission : 

President:    Cornelius  Vanderbilt,  30  Pine  St.,  New  York. 

Vice-Presidents:  Hon.  Herman  Kidder,  182  William  St., 
New  York,  Vincent  Astor,  August  Belmont,  Andrew  Carnegie, 
LL.D.,  Gen.  Howard  Carroll,  Hon.  George  B.  Cortelyou,  George 
J.  Gould,  George  F.  Kunz,  Ph.D.,  Sc.D.,  Clarence  H.  Mackay, 
Hon.  Morgan  J.  O'Brien,  Hon.  Alton  B.  Parker,  John  D.  Rocke- 
feller, Jr.,  Col.  Henry  W.  Sackett,  Jacob  H.  Schiff,  Isaac  N. 
Seligman,  Hon.  Theodore  P.  Shonts,  Hon.  P.  A.  C,  Smith,  James 


L5 


Speyer,  Henry  K.  Towne,  Theodore  N.  Vail,  and  William 
Ziegler,  Jr. 

Treasurer:  Messrs.  J.  P.  Morgan  &  Co.,  15  Broad  St.,  New 
York. 

Secretary:  Edward  Hagaman  Hall,  L.H.D.,  154  Nassau  St., 
New  York. 

Assistant  Secretary:  A.  E.  MacKinnon,  154  Nassau  St.,  New 
York. 

Chairmen  of  Committees 

Athletics:    Hon.  James  E.  Sullivan. 

Auditing:    Hon.  N.  Taylor  Phillips. 

Banquet:    Samuel  W.  Fairchild. 

Commercial  Exhibits:    E.  P.  V.  Kitter. 

Contracts:    Hon.  Robert  L.  Harrison. 

Designs  and  Decorations:    Charles  R.  Lamb. 

Educational  Institutions:    Elmer  E.  Brown,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 

Erie  Canal:    The  Mayor  of  Syracuse. 

Executive:    Hon.  Herman  Bidder. 

Finance:    Hon.  R.  Ross  Appleton. 

Flag  and  Poster:    Louis  Annin  Ames. 

Historical  Meetings:    Samuel  V.  Hoffman. 

Illuminations:    Hon.  William  Berri. 

Law  and  Legislation:    Hon.  Alton  B.  Parker. 

Local  Festivals:    Hon.  William  J.  Lee. 

Lower  Hudson  Committee:    The  Mayor  of  Yonkers. 

Medal  and  Badge:    Henry  R.  Drowne. 

Memorials:    Franklin  W.  Hooper,  LL.D. 

Museum  Exhibits:    George  F.  Kunz,  Ph.D.,  Sc.D. 

Music  Festivals:    Prof.  Henry  T.  Fleck. 

Naval  Events:    Hon.  R.  A.  C.  Smith. 

Netherlands:    Henry  L.  Bogert. 

Nominatioyis  Committee:    Col.  Henry  W.  Sackett. 

Northern  New  York:    The  Mayor  of  Watertown. 

Panama  Canal:    Hon.  Theodore  P.  Shonts. 

Pan-American  Congress:  (Vacant). 

Peace  Centennial:    Hon.  William  B.  Howland. 

Plan  and  Scope:    Gen.  Howard  Carroll. 

Publicity:    A.  E.  MacKinnon. 

Reception:    Cornelius  Vanderbilt. 

Religious  Meetings:    Hon.  John  D.  Crimmins. 

Reviewing  Stands:    William  A.  Johnston. 

Southern  New  York:    The  Mayor  of  Binghamton. 

Street  Parades:    Gen.  George  R.  Dyer,  N.  G.,  N.  Y. 

Upper  Hudson :    The  Mayor  of  Albany. 


16 


Members  of  the  Commission 

In  the  following  list  of  members  of  the  Commission,  the  names 
of  Trustees  are  printed  in  italics: 


Hon.  Robert  Adamson 
John  Adikes 
Lieut.  C.  J.  Ahern 
Newton  D.  Ailing 
Louis  Annin  Ames 
Hon.  R.  Ross  Appleton 
John  Aspegren 
Vincent  As  tor 
Robert  C.  Auld 
Charles  J.  Austin 

Aaron  J.  Bach 

Bernard  M.  Baruch 

A.  G.  Batehelder 

Charles  Beckman 

August  Belmont 

Marcus  Benjamin,  Ph.D.,  Sc.D. 

Tunis  G.  Bergen 

Bon.  William  Berri 

Charles  A.  Berrian 

Union  N.  Bethell 

F.  S.  Bishop 

Rudolph  Block 

Solomon  Bloom 

Samuel  J.  Bloomingdale 

E.  C.  Blum 

Henry  Lawrence  Bogert 

Robert  W.  Boissevain 

George  C.  Boldt 

Reginald  Pelham  Bolton 

Dr.  A.  C.  Bonaschi 

H.  A.  Bonnell 

Paul  Bonynge 

Charles  A.  Boody 

Hon.  David  A.  Boody 

William  A.  Boring 

E.  B.  Boynton 

Nicholas  F.  Brady 

William  C.  Breed 

Herbert  L.  Bridgman 

Nathaniel  L.  Britton,  Sc.D..  Ph.D. 

C.  C.  Brown 

Elmer  E.  Brown,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 
James  W.  Brown 

D.  J.  Burrell,  D.D. 
John  H.  Burroughs 
J.  R.  Butler 

Nicholas  M.  Butler,  LL.D.,  Litt.D. 

Hon.  William  M.  Calder 
Hugh  N.  Camp.  Jr. 
James  G.  Cannon 
Hon.  Jacob  A.  Cantor 
Andrew  Carnegie,  LL.D. 
Gen.  Howard  Carroll 
John  Carstensen 

E.  R.  Chapman 


William  Hamlin  Childs 

Hon.  Joseph  H.  Choate 

Hon.  Thomas  W.  Churchill 

Henry  Clews,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 

Edward  K.  Cone 

Hon.  Maurice  E.  Connolly 

Hugh  Connolly 

Cesare  Conti 

John  C.  Cook 

Robert  Crier  Cooke 

P.  H.  Coombs 

Hon.  George  B.  Cortelyou 

Clarhson  Coiol 

Hon.  J.  Sergeant  Cram 

C.  Ward  Crampton,  M.D. 

John  B.  Creighton 

Hon.  John  D.  Crimmins 

Hon.  George  Cromwell 

William  N.  Cromwell 

Warren  Cruikshank 

Col.  Michael  J.  Cummings 

Andrew  Cuneo 

Hon.  H.  H.  Curran 

Charles  F.  Dalv 
Com.  Fred  B.  Dalzell 
M.  E.  <Jf  Affuero 
Albert  de  Cernea 
Hon.  Robert  W.  de  Forest 
John  D.  DeFriest 
William  C.  Demorest 
William  D.  Dickey 
Charles  H.  "Ditson 
John  Dowd 

Hon.  Frank  L.  Dowling 
Henry  Russell  Droicne 
Hon.  Michael  J.  Drummond 
Gen.  George  R.  Dyer 

John  C.  Fames 

Edward  Earl 

George  L.  Egbert 

George  Ehret 

Hon.  William  B.  Ellison 

Henry  Escher,  Jr. 

Hon.  John  E.  Eustis 

Clarence  L.  Fabre 

Samuel  W.  Fairchild 

Terence  Farley 

Stephen  Farrelly 

John  H.  Finley,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 

Stuwesant  Fish 

W.  C.  Fisk 

Prof.  Henry  T.  Fleck 

Berthold  Flcsch,  M.D. 

Joseph  N.  Franeolini 


17 


W.  C.  Freeman 
Charles  H.  Fuller 
Michael  Furst 

Col.  Asa  Bird  Gardiner 
Elbert  H.  Gary 
L.  B.  Gawtry 
Charles  E.  Gehring 
John  F.  Geis 
Isaac  Gimbel 
George  J.  Gould 
Benedict  J.  Greenhut 
J.  B.  Greenhut 
Henry  E.  Gregory 
T.  Greidnnus 
Herbert  F.  Gunnison 

A.  E.  Hadlock 

William  H.  Hale,  Ph.D. 

Edicard  Ha  gam  an  Hall,  L.H.D. 

Matthew  P.  Halpin 

J.  W.  H.  Hamilton 

C.  C.  Hanch 

J.  E.  Hardenbergh 

Hon.  Robert  L.  Harrison 

Ernest  Harvier 

Hon.  A.  Augustus  Healy 

John  A.  Hennessy 

Hon.  A.  Barton  Hepburn 

Samuel  Verplanck  Hoffman 

Edward  Holbrook 

Richard  G.  Hollaman 

Franklin  W.  Hooper,  LL.D. 

R.  H.  Hooper 

John  J.  Hooper 

Maj.  F.  L.  V.  Hoppin 

Walter  B.  Hopping 

Roy  W.  Howard 

Hon.  William  B.  Howland 

Andrew  B.  Humphrey 

Archer  M.  Huntington,  Litt.D. 

G.  Murray  Hurlbert 
David  H.  Hyman 

A.  E.  Johnson 

Joseph  French  Johnson,  D.C.S. 
Prof.  Henry  P.  Johnston 
William  A.  Johnston 
J.  Harris  Jones 
Lucien  Jouvaud 

Otto  H.  Kahn 

Robert  C.  Kammerer 

Hon.  Benjamin  A.  Keiley 

Hon.  Ardolph  L.  Kline 

Cornelius  G.  Kolff 

George  F.  Kunz,  Ph.D.,  Sc.D. 

Hans  Lagerlof 
Charles  R.  Lamb 
Leopold  L.  Langrock 
Hon.  William  J.  Lee 

H.  M.  Leipziger,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 
Hon.  Jefferson  M.  Levy 


Nelson  P.  Lewis 
W.  V.  Lifsey 
Stephen  Lounsbery 

James  B.  Mabon 

Clarence  H.  Mackay 

A.  E.  MacKinnon 

Hon.  Milo  R.  Maltbie 

Hon.  Alrick  H.  Man 

William  A.  Marble 

Hon.  Marcus  M.  Marks 

Hon.  Douglas  Mathewson 

William  H.  Maxwell,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 

Hon.  William  G.  McAdoo 

Hon.  George  McAneny 

Thomas  F.  McAvoy 

Hon.  Geo.  B.  McClellan 

Hon.  Charles  J.  McCormack 

Alfred  J.  McGrath 

John  Jay  McKelvev 

S.  C.  Mead 

S.  A.  Miles 

Hon.  Cyrus  C.  Miller 

L.  E.  Miller 

Hon.  John  Purroy  Mitchel 
Henry  Morgenthau 
Lewis  R.  Morris,  M.D. 
Frank  A.  Munsey 
William  C.  Muscheriheim 

Adolph  I.  Namm 
William  A.  Nash 
George  L.  Naught 
George  W.  Neville 
E.  A.  Norman 

Hon.  Morgan  J.  O'Brien 
Dr.  Joseph  J.  O'Connell 
Hon.  James  A.  0  Gorman 
Hon.  Arthur  J.  O'Keeffe 
Eben  E.  Olcott 
Robert  Olvphant 
Henry  F.  Oslorn,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 
Eugene  H.  Outerbridge 

Col.  Willis  S.  Paine 

Hon.  Alton  B.  Parker 

Hon.  George  W.  Perkins 

Ralph  Peters 

Hon.  N.  Taylor  Phillips 

Lewis  E.  Pierson 

John  B.  Pine 

W.  H.  Pleasants 

Hon.  Lewis  H.  Pounds 

John  A.  Povnton 

Frederick  B.  Pratt 

Hon.  William  A.  Prendergast 

Charles  W.  Price 

Hon.  Cornelius  A.  Pugsley 

H.  H.  Rnvmond 
Fred  A.  Reed 
William  C.  Rcick 
Charles  E.  Reid 


18 


Rev.  Christian  F.  Reisner 
Hon.  Herman  Ridder 
Edward  P.  V.  Kit  lei- 
John  D.  Rockefeller,  Jr. 
Hon.  Elihu  Root 
Frederick  W.  Rubien 
Henry  Ruhlander 
Col.  Jacob  Ruppert 
Willis  Wilmington  Russell 
Thomas  F.  Ryan 

Col.  Henry  W.  Sackett 
Hon.  Charles  A  Schieren 
Jacob  H.  Schiff 
Leo  Schlesinger 
George  Martin  Seeley 
William  B.  Seldon 
Isaac  N.  Seligman 
Hon.  Theodore  P.  Shouts 
Henry  Siegel 
A.  Silz 

Hon.  John  A.  Sleicher 
George  Carson  Smith 
Hon.  Robert  A.  C.  Smith 
Thomas  F.  Smith 
Luigi  Solari 
Nelson  S.  Spencer 
James  Speyer 
Charles  E.  Spratt 
Charles  Steckler 
Hon.  Alfred  E.  Steers 
J.  H.  Steinhardt 
John  A.  Stewart 
Edward  W.  Stitt,  Ph.D. 
Hon.  Charles  B.  Stover 
Jacob  Stumpf 
Hon.  James  E.  Sullivan 

Willard  U.  Taylor 
Hon.  Calvin  Tomkins 


Hon.  Charles  A.  Towne 
Henry  R.  Towne 

Albert  Ulmann 
William  J.  Underwood 

Theo&ore  N.  Vail,  LL.D. 
Lee  J.  Vance 
William  S.  Van  Clief 
Cornelius  Vanderbilt 
William  K.  Vanderbilt 
Hon.  Frank  A.  Vanderlip 

Hon.  Rhmelander  Waldo 

Hon.  Judson  G.  Wall 

Hon.  John  Wanamaker 

Paul  M.  Warburg 

Whitney  Warren 

Hon.  Bartow  S.  Weeks 

Hon.  James  L.  Wells 

Edmund  Wetmore 

Maj.  Robert  A.  Widenmann 

Hon.  William  R.  Willcox 

Arthur  Williains 

Talcott  Williams,  L.H.D.,  LL.D. 

T.  S.  Williams 

Francis  M.  Wilson 

Hon.  Egerton  L.  Winthrop,  Jr. 

Charles  B.  Wolffram 

William  J.  Wollman 

Henry  A.  Wise  Wood 

Otis  Fenner  Wood 

Maj.  James  Otis  Woodward 

F.  W.  Wool  worth 

James  C.  Young 
John  R.  Young 

William  Ziegler,  Jr. 


Mayors  of  Cities  (Members  ex  officio) 


Albany    Hon.  Joseph  W.  Stevens 

Amsterdam   Hon.  J.  H.  Dealy 

Auburn   Hon.  C.  W.  Brister 

Beacon    Hon.  J.  A.  Frost 

Binghamton   Hon.  John  J.  Irving 

Buffalo    Hon.  Louis  P.  Fuhrmann 

Canandaigua    Hon.  Peter  P.  Turner 

Cohocs    Hon.  James  S.  Calkins 

Corning    Hon.  Lewis  N.  Lattin 

Cortlandt    Hon.  Walter  H.  Angell 

Dunkirk    Hon.  J.  T.  Sullivan 

Elmira   Hon.  Harry  N.  Hoffman 

Fulton    Hon.  Frank  E.  Fox 

Geneva    Hon.  Reuben  H.  Gulvin 

Olens  Falls    Hon.  W.  Irving  drifting 

Gloversville    Hon.  G.  W.  Schermerhorn 

Hornell   Hon.  Frank  J.  Nelson 

Hudson    Hon.  Louis  Van  Hoesen 

Ithaca    Hon.  Thomas  Tree 


19 


Jamestown    Hon.  Samuel  A.  Carlson 

Johnstown   -   Hon.  Clarence  W.  Smith 

Kingston    Hon.  Palmer  Canfield,  Jr. 

Lackawanna    Hon.  John  I.  Sidmey 

Little  Falls    Hon.  Frank  H.  Shall 

Lockport    Hon.  George  A.  Brock 

Middletown    Hon.  Rosslyn  M.  Cox 

Mount  Vernon    Hon.  Edwin  W.  Fiske 

Newburgh   Hon.  John  B.  Corwin 

New  Rochelle    Hon.  Edward  Stetson  Griffing 

New  York    Hon.  John  Purroy  Mitchel 

Niagara  Falls    Hon.  William  Laughlin 

North  Tonawanda    Hon.  John  A.  Rafter 

Ogdensburgh    Hon.  Charles  D.  Hoard 

Olean    Hon.  W.  H.  Simpson 

Oneida    Hon.  Otto  Pfaff 

Oneonta    Hon.  Joseph  S.  Lunn 

Oswego    Hon.  Thomas  F.  Hennessey 

Pittsburgh    Hon.  W.  H.  Goff 

Port  Jervis    Hon.  Frank  Lybolt 

Poughkeepsie   Hon.  Daniel  W.  Willen 

Rensselaer    Hon.  Frederick  Ruhloff 

Rochester    Hon.  Hiram  H.  Edgerton 

Rome    Hon.  H.  C.  Midlam 

Schenectady    Hon.  J.  Teller  Schoolcraft 

Syracuse   Hon.  Louis  Will 

Tonawanda    Hon.  Albert  J.  Cordes 

Troy    Hon.  Cornelius  F.  Burns 

Utica    Hon.  James  D.  Smith 

Watertown   Hon.  Isaac  R.  Breen 

Watervliet    Hon.  Edwin  W.  Joslin 

Yonkers    J I  on.  James  T.  Lennon 


Presidents  of  Villages  (Members  ex  officio) 

Athens    Hon.  William  M.  Collier 

Castleton    Hon.  Christian  Peters 

Catskill    Hon.  Willis  A.  Haines 

Cold  Spring   Hon.  Charles  M.  Selleck 

Corinth   Hon.  J.  Finley  Work 

Cornwall    Hon.  Charles  J.  Jaeger 

Coxsackie   Hon.  Henry  A.  Jordan 

Croton-on-Hudson    Hon.  Charles  E.  Anderson 

Dobbs  Ferry    Hon.  Franklin  Q.  Brown 

Fishkill    Hon.  John  P.  Dugan 

Fort  Edward   Hon.  Alfred  Brown 

Green  Island    Hon.  John  McGowan 

Hastings-on-Hudson    Hon.  T.  F.  Reynold 

Haverstraw    Bon.  Thomas  J.  Freeman 

Hudson  Falls    Hon.  Russel  C.  Paris 

Irvington    Hon.  M.  S.  Beltzhoover 

Mechanicville    Hon.  William  A.  Camfield 

North  Tarrytown   Hon.  Samuel  T.  Horton 

Nyack    Hon.  James  Kilby 

Ossining    Hon.  J.  E.  Hollo 

Peekskill    Hon.  Thomas  Nelson,  Jr. 

Piermont    Hon.  John  R.  Wood 

Red  Hook    Hon.  William  S.  Massonpau 

Rhinebeck    Hon.  Charles  A.  Marqnet 

Saugerties    Hon.  William  Ziegler 

Schuvlerville   Hon.  H.  C.  Munson 


20 


South  Glens  Falls    Hon.  R.  8.  Sherman 

South  Nyack    Hon.  F.  E.  Leaycraft 

Stillwater    Hon.  William  R.  Palmer 

Tarrvtown    Hon.  F.  R.  Pierson 

Tivoli    Hon.  P.  H.  Morey 

Upper  Nvack    Hon.  Frank  R.  Crumbie 

Victory  Mills   ,   Hon.  M.  E.  Kelly 

Wappingers  Falls   Hon.  John  W.  Mullen 

Waterford    Hon.  Anthony  J.  Weaver 

West  Haverstraw   Hon.  Louis  Adler 

Respectfully  submitted, 

OORJSTELIUS  VAXDERBILT, 

President. 

Edward  Haga  ma  n  Hall, 

Secretary. 


APPENDIX 

THE  NEW  YORK 
COMMERCIAL  TERCENTENARY 
1614-1914 

BY  EDWARD  HAGAMAN  HALL,  L.H.D. 


[21! 


INTRODUCTION 

From  March  27  to  October  11,  1014,  the  City  and  State  of 
New  York  will  celebrate,  by  means  of  a  series  of  religious,  his- 
torical and  educational  exercises,  art,  scientific  and  commercial 
exhibits,  street  parades,  and  other  festivities,  the  three  hundredth 
anniversary  of  the  beginning  of  the  regularly  chartered  com- 
merce of  what  are  now  the  City  and  State  of  New  York.  The 
dates  above  mentioned  are  the  anniversaries  respectively  of  the 
granting  of  the  first  general  charter  and  the  first  special  charter 
by  the  States  General  of  the  United  Netherlands  for  trading  to 
New  Netherland. 

To  arrange  for  the  suitable  observances  of  the  completion  of 
three  centuries  of  American  commerce,  the  late  Mayor  Gaynor  of 
New  York,  in  December,  1912,  appointed  a  Citizens'  Committee 
which  was  subsequently  enlarged  and  became  incorporated  as  the 
New  York  Commercial  Tercentenary  Commission  by  a  special 
act  of  the  Legislature,  chapter  313  of  the  Laws  of  1913.  The 
Commission  consists  of  the  persons  named  in  the  Charter,  the 
Mayors  of  all  the  Cities  of  the  State  ex  officio,  the  Presidents  of 
the  incorporated  Villages  of  the  Hudson  Valley  ex  officio,  and 
such  persons  as  may  have  been  or  may  be  associated  with  them 
by  appointment  by  the  Governor  of  the  State  or  the  Mayor  of  the 
City  of  New  York. 

The  Charter  of  the  Commission  is  almost  verbatim  like  that  of 
the  Hudson-Fulton  Celebration  Commission,  but  the  movement 
itself  had  a  different  origin.  The  Hudson-Fulton  Celebration  in 
1909  was  purely  historical  in  its  conception  and  execution,  every- 
thing of  a  commercial  nature  being  carefully  excluded  from  the 
program.  The  present  celebration  was  initiated  by  representa- 
tives of  some  of  the  leading  merchants,  manufacturers  and  com- 
mercial exchanges  of  New  York  and  contemplates,  in  connection 
with  the  historical  commemoration,  the  cultivation  of  commercial 
relations  throughout  the  country. 

In  glancing  at  the  historical  events  upon  which  the  celebration 
is  based  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  commerce  of  New  Nether- 

[23] 


24 


land  began  and  was  fully  established  before  New  Netherland  was 
permanently  settled.  The  first  permanent  settlement  in  what  is 
now  the  State  of  New  York  was  made  by  the  Dutch  at  Fort 
Orange  (Albany)  in  1624,  and  the  first  permanent  settlement  on 
Manhattan  Island  was  made  at  New  Amsterdam  in  1626.  The 
permanence  and  success  of  those  settlements  from  the  very  begin- 
ning were  due,  next  to  the  natural  industry  of  the  Dutch  pioneers, 
mainly  to  the  fact  that  there  had  been  ten  years  of  peaceful  and 
successful  trading  with  the  Indians  by  means  of  which  the  Dutch 
had  contracted  friendly  relations  with  the  natives  before  they 
attempted  to  settle  permanently. 

The  importance  of  this  fact  becomes  apparent  when  one  com- 
pares the  course  of  events  on  the  Hudson  with  what  happened  on 
the  James  River  in  Virginia. 

When  the  States  General  of  the  United  Netherlands  in  1614 
granted  the  first  charter  for  trading  to  New  Netherland,  there 
were  only  two  permanent  settlements  upon  the  Atlantic  coast  of 
the  present  United  States,  namely,  the  Spanish  settlement  at  St. 
Augustine,  Fla.,  and  the  English  settlement  at  Jamestown,  Va.* 

St.  Augustine,  founded  in  1565,  did  not  develop  a  commerce. 
It  was  established  primarily  as  a  military  post  to  secure  posses- 
sion of  Florida  in  order  to  prevent  other  nations  settling  there 
and  interfering  with  the  treasure  ships  of  Spain  passing  between 
Mexico  and  the  old  country,  but  it  was  also  a  center  of  missionary 
work  among  the  Indians. 

Jamestown  was  settled  in  1607.  Plymouth  was  not  settled 
until  1620.  It  was  between  these  two  dates  that  the  commerce  of 
the  Hudson  Valley  was  begun.  While  too  much  cannot  be  said 
of  the  wonderful  enterprise  and  courage  which  led  to  the  first 
permanent  planting  of  Anglo-Saxon  civilization  upon  this  con- 
tinent at  Jamestown,  it  is  nevertheless  to  be  observed  that  the 
early  years  of  that  Colony  were  characterized  by  a  desperate 
struggle  for  mere  existence ;  the  development  of  a  commerce,  much 
as  it  was  desired,  was  out  of  the  question.  The  Colonists  did  not 
at  first  raise  enough  produce  to  sustain  their  own  lives,  and  were 

*  There  was  also  a  third  permanent  settlement  within  the  limits  of  the' 
present  United  States,  at  Santa  Fe,  N.  Mex.  This,  however,  was  a  religious., 
not  a  commercial  establishment. 


25 


kept  alive  partly  by  food  brought  from  the  mother  country  by 
what  were  called  the  First  Supply,  the  Second  Supply,  the  Third 
Supply,  etc.,  and  corn  exacted  from  the  Indians,  much  against  the 
latter's  will.  It  is  true,  they  sent  back  to  England  some  rough 
timber,  a  consignment  of  sassafras,  a  cage  of  flying  squirrels  for 
the  King,  a  load  of  yellow  dirt  which  was  thought  to  contain 
gold,  etc.,  but  nothing  in  those  early  years  of  sufficient  value  to 
compensate  the  factors  for  their  investments;  while  the  Colonists 
perished  with  starvation  and  Indian  massacres  until  their  pre- 
carious hold  on  the  continent  was  almost  broken.  It  was  not  until 
1614  or  1615  —  just  about  the  time  of  the  chartering  of  the  New 
Netherland  commerce  —  that  their  attention  was  turned  seriously 
to  the  cultivation  of  tobacco,  which  eventually  became  a  staple 
crop;  but  for  several  years  after  that,  even,  while  developing  the 
culture  of  tobacco,  they  were  so  improvident  that  they  did  not 
raise  edible  crops  enough  to  feed  themselves,  and  had  to  be 
assisted  with  the  necessities  of  existence  sent  from  England. 

Meanwhile,  the  Dutch,  who  for  many  years  had  had  a  profitable 
commerce  with  Russia  in  furs  and  who  were  keen  rivals  of  the 
English  Muscovy  Company  in  the  Russian  trade,  quick  to  realize 
the  value  of  the  resources  of  these  commodities  in  the  Hudson 
Valley,  began  trading  in  this  unappropriated  region.  That  the 
commerce  was  profitable  from  the  very  beginning  is  evident  from 
the  eagerness  with  which  the  Amsterdam  merchants  applied  for 
a  monopolistic  charter  after  their  preliminary  voyages  hither,  and 
the  jealousy  with  which  they  regarded  any  attempts  at  competi- 
tion, surreptitious  or  otherwise,  after  they  secured  that  charter. 
It  is  the  beginning  of  that  commerce,  which  had  radiated  from 
New  York  and  expanded  to  such  great  proportions,  that  the  Ter- 
centenary primarily  commemorates. 

Another  significant  event,  closely  connected  with  the  beginning 
of  this  commerce,  was  the  building  of  the  ship  Onrust  (Restless) 
in  New  Netherland  in  1614.  The  Onrust  was  not  the  first  vessel 
to  be  built  within  the  limits  of  the  present  United  States.  In 
1527  Narvaez's  men  built  five  vessels  in  Florida*  and  there  are 

*  The  Onrust  was  44%  feet  from  stem  to  stern.  The  vessels  built  in  Florida 
were  each  22  cubits  lon^.  A  cubit  is  variously  estimated  at  from  18  to  22 
inches. 


3 


26 


other  evidences  of  extemporaneous  ship-building  in  that  region. 
Small  vessels  had  also  been  brought  to  America  in  sections  to  be 
put  together  here,  and  various  small  repairs  had  been  made  on  the 
Atlantic  coast.  But  the  Onrust  was  the  first  vessel  to  be  built 
entirely  of  native  wood  along  the  middle  or  northern  Atlantic 
coast,  so  far  as  our  present  information  goes,  and  to  have  per- 
formed as  notable  a  work  of  exploration  as  that  done  by  Block's 
ship. 

This  Celebration  in  1914  is  emphasized  by  a  contemporaneous 
commercial  event  of  extraordinary  importance  to  the  Nation, 
namely,  the  practical  opening  of  the  Panama  Canal.  This 
achievement  connects  backward  with  the  events  of  which  we  have 
been  speaking,  and  even  earlier  history.  When  Columbus  sailed 
in  1492,  he  believed  that  he  could  reach  the  Orient  by  sailing 
westward.  After  he  had  discovered  the  West  India  islands  and 
the  Cabots  had  discovered  continental  America,  and  it  was  found 
that  a  double  continent  impeded  the  sea-road  to  Cathay,  subse- 
quent explorers  tried  to  find  a  passage  through  the  land  to  the 
sea  beyond.  Cartier,  LaSalle*  and  Champlain  tried  to  reach 
China  by  way  of  the  Saint  Lawrence  River  and  failed.  Captain 
John  Smith  tried  to  reach  the  East  Indies  by  way  of  the  James 
River  but  was  stopped  by  the  Falls  of  Richmond.  Henry  Hud- 
son, choosing  between  a  route  unsuccessfully  attempted  by  John 
Davis  and  another  untried  route  which  he  thought  more  promis- 
ing, tried  to  reach  China  by  way  of  the  Hudson  River,  with  no 
better  success  so  far  as  his  original  object  was  concerned.  Now, 
after  the  lapse  of  centuries,  the  passage  which  they  failed  to  find 
we  have  made  at  Panama.  We  thus  have  a  period  of  three  hun- 
dred years  of  American  history  sharply  defined  by  two  conspicu- 
ous events  —  at  one  end  the  beginning  of  the  chartered  commerce 
of  New  Netherland  which  was  the  forerunner  of  the  greater  com- 
merce of  the  Nation ;  at  the  other  end,  the  opening  of  the  Panama 
Canal,  which  is  the  consummation  of  the  hitherto  unattained 
hopes  of  centuries  and  which  is  destined  vastly  to  increase  the 
commerce  of  the  Port  of  New  York  and  the  Nation  as  time 
goes  on. 

*  The  name  LaChine  (the  French  for  China),  was  given  in  derision  to  a 
seigniory  granted  to  LaSalle  at  Montreal  on  account  of  his  ambition  to  reach 
China  by  that  route.    The  name  is  preserved  in  that  of  the  LaChine  Rapids. 


27 


These  events,  taken  together  with  the  virtual  completion  of  the 
enlarged  Erie  Canal  and  the  rounding  out  of  a  Century  of  Peace 
between  the  English-speaking  peoples,  make  1914  a  red-letter  year 
in  the  national  calendar. 

The  plan  of  the  Celebration  will  show  that  the  Celebration  is 
not  to  deal  exclusively  with  the  material  side  of  commerce.  At 
no  period  in  the  history  of  the  world  has  the  intimate  reciprocal 
relation  between  commerce  and  industry  on  the  one  hand  and 
intellectual  activity,  as  represented  in  the  arts,  sciences  and  let- 
ters, on  the  other,  been  so  fully  recognized  as  now.  The  modern 
university  idea,  as  was  well  expressed  recently  by  Chancellor 
Brown  of  New  York  University,  a  member  of  this  Commission,  is 
to  bring  the  university  into  touch  with  every  practical  phase  of 
human  life.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  modern  educational 
idea  generally.  It  reflects  itself  in  the  establishment  of  Professor- 
ships of  Commerce  and  Colleges  of  Commerce  in  connection  with 
the  higher  institutions  of  learning,  in  the  teaching  of  arts  and 
crafts  in  the  public  schools,  and  in  many  other  ways.  A  strong 
and  active  national  commerce  and  a  vigorous  and  virile  national 
industry  stimulate  art,  science  and  literature,  and  these  in  turn 
react  upon  the  commercial  and  industrial  life  of  the  Nation,  mak- 
ing it  more  fruitful  and  progressive.  Commerce  is  so  truly  the 
hand-maiden  of  Civilization,  that  it  may  almost  be  said  that  the 
culture  of  a  people  in  the  arts  of  civilization  can  be  measured  by 
its  industry  and  commerce.*  For  these  reasons,  the  plan  of  the 
Celebration  contemplates  the  active  participation  of  the  educa- 
tional institutions,  the  museums  of  art  and  science,  historical 
societies,  and  other  bodies  representing  the  intellectual  life  of  the 
City,  State  and  Nation. 

The  New  York  Commercial  Tercentenary  Celebration,  there- 
fore, is  not  an  affair  of  circumscribed  interest.  The  relation 
which  the  events  to  be  celebrated  bears  to  the  commerce  and  indus- 
tries of  the  whole  country  is  so  intimate  that  the  commemoration 
is  one  of  national  significance,  and  it  is  most  appropriate  that  our 

*  Note,  for  instance,  the  contrast  between  the  Greeks,  a  maritime  people, 
and  the  Egyptians,  a  non-maritime  people;  or  between  the  seagoing  Dutch 
and  the  exclusiv-e  and  self-centered  Chinese,  with  respect  to  both  their  own 
process  in  art,  science  and  letters  and  their  influence  in  the  spreading  of 
civilization  abroad. 


28 


fellow  citizens  of  other  States  should  share  in  the  pride  in  the 
splendid  commerce  which  has  developed  from  the  small  beginning 
three  centuries  ago  and  should  actively  participate  in  the  exer- 
cises, exhibitions  and  festivals  attending  the  joyful  celebration 
of  the  anniversary. 


THE  NEW  YORK  COMMERCIAL  TERCENTENARY 


Primitive  Conditions  in  New  Netherland 

Before  taking  up  the  story  of  the  coming  of  the  Dutch  traders 
to  the  Hudson  River  under  charters  from  the  States  General  of 
the  United  Netherlands,  three  centuries  ago,  it  will  be  instructive 
to  glance  at  primitive  conditions  which  existed  in  what  are  now 
the  City  and  State  of  New  York  at  the  time  of  the  advent  of  the 
Europeans. 

In  one  of  those  wonderful  stories  of  oriental  magic  with  which 
Scheherezade  entertained  the  Sultan  of  India  for  A  Thousand 
and  One  Nights,  it  is  related  that  Aladdin,  by  the  power  of  his 
wonderful  lamp,  caused  a  beautiful  palace  to  rise  out  of  the 
ground  in  a  night.  The  story  of  the  growth  of  the  City  of  New 
York,  as  a  result  of  three  centuries  of  commerce,  is  as  interesting 
as  a  fairy  tale,  and  it  is  much  more  wonderful  because  it  is  true. 

New  York,  with  her  population  of  5,583,871  people,  is,  with 
the  single  exception  of  London,  the  greatest  gathering  of  the 
human  race  in  the  world  under  one  City  Government.  During  the 
lives  of  some  of  the  readers  of  these  pages,  she  will  outstrip  Lon- 
don and  become  the  largest  city  in  the  world. 

New  York  was  not  built  in  a  night  like  Aladdin's  palace,  but 
she  has  been  built  in  so  short  a  time  compared  with  other  cities  of 
the  world  that  it  almost  seems  as  if  some  genie,  with  supernatural 
powers,  had  done  it.  If  the  allotted  age  of  man  is  "  three  score 
years  and  ten,"  as  the  Scriptures  say,  it  would  require  less  than 
five  human  lives,  placed  end  to  end,  to  reach  back  to  the  coming 
of  Hudson,  the  beginning  of  commerce,  and  the  first  permanent 
settlement  of  Albany  and  New  York. 

Before  New  York  was  born,  other  cities  were  aged.  Old  York, 
in  England,  from  which  (through  the  Duke  of  York)  New  York 
derives  her  name,  had  been  in  existence  fifteen  hundred  years 
when  Peter  Minuit  landed  on  Manhattan  Island.  Old  York  is 
still  a  comparatively  small  city,  about  as  big  as  Troy,  N.  Y.  Of 


30 


the  eighteen  cities  of  the  world  containing  a  population  of  a  mil- 
lion or  more,  the  fifteen  foreign  cities  are  all  vastly  older  than 
New  York.  London  is  our  elder  by  about  1600  years.  Paris, 
now  the  world's  third  city  in  size,  was  found  in  existence  by 
Caesar,  53  years  before  Christ  was  born.  Our  own  American  city 
of  Chicago  ranks  fourth.  The  age  of  Tokio,  the  fifth,  is  veiled  in 
mystery,  but  she  is  very  old.  Berlin,  the  sixth,  was  inhabited  two 
or  three  hundred  years  before  America  was  discovered.  Vienna, 
the  seventh,  is  as  old  as  the  Christian  era.  When  Columbus  dis- 
covered America,  there  were  factories  on  the  Neva  delta,  where 
St.  Petersburgh,  the  eighth  city  in  size,  now  stands.  Canton,  the 
ninth,  dates  from  200  B.  C,  and  has  a  pagoda  that  was  a  thousand 
years  old  when  Hudson  explored  the  river  that  bears  his  name. 
Peking,  the  tenth,  was  2400  years  old  when  Marco  Polo  journeyed 
to  China  200  years  before  Columbus  discovered  America.  The 
eleventh  is  Philadelphia,  another  American  city.  Moscow,  the 
twelfth,  antedates  the  twelfth  century.  Buenos  Ayres,  the  thir- 
teenth, was  founded  in  1535.  Constantinople,  the  fourteenth,  as 
Byzantium  goes  back  658  years  B.  C.  And  Osaka  (the  great  com- 
mercial center  of  Japan),  Shanghai,  Tientsin  and  Glasgow,  which 
just  come  within  the  millionaire  class,  are  very  old. 

New  York  is  indeed  young  and  has  grown  wonderfully  under 
the  influence  of  the  American  commercial  spirit.  If  one  wishes 
to  imagine  how  the  ground  looked  before  that  growth  began  — 
how  Nature's  picturesque  garden  appeared  before  the  seed  of 
civilization  was  planted  here  —  he  must  reverse  Aladdin's  pro- 
cedure, and  by  a  little  mental  magic  make  all  these  massive  build- 
ings, and  miles  of  streets,  and  hurrying  millions  sink  into  the 
earth.  And  what  does  he  see?  A  wilderness  of  forests,  rocks, 
hills,  valleys,  swamps,  rivers  and  ponds.  The  roar  of  Broadway  is 
gone;  the  roar  of  the  wild  beasts  has  come  back.  Manhattan 
Island  is  shrunk;  the  waters  of  the  North  Biver  wash  the  shore 
of  Greenwich  street ;  the  waves  of  the  bay  break  in  whitecaps  on 
the  Capse  Bocks  near  Whitehall  and  Pearl  streets ;  the  tides 
of  the  East  Biver  wash  the  strand  at  Pearl  street,  and  the  interior 
is  diversified  with  sparkling  lakes  and  rippling  streams  in  which 
many  kinds  of  fish  disport  and  to  which  the  beasts  of  the  field 
come  to  slake  their  thirst. 


31 


Proportionate  changes  have  taken  place  in  the  older  City  of 
Albany  and  all  the  other  centers  of  population  in  the  State.  The 
primeval  forests  of  Manhattan  Island,  like  those  of  the  rest  of  the 
State,  once  echoed  with  the  growl  of  bears,  the  cry  of  panthers, 
and  the  howl  of  wolves.  A  bear  was  killed  on  Manhattan  Island 
as  late  as  the  winter  of  1679-80.  Wolves  and  wild-cats  were  so 
numerous  that  among  the  earliest  laws  enacted  by  the  English 
were  laws  giving  rewards  for  killing  these  dangerous  animals. 
The  bounties  ran  as  high  as  five  pounds  to  a  Christian  for  killing 
a  grown  wolf.  An  Indian  was  paid  only  half  as  much  as  a  white 
man,  probably  because  it  was  considered  easier  for  an  Indian  to 
kill  a  wolf.  Sometimes  the  Indian  was  paid  with  a  "  Match 
coate " —  a  loose  coat  originally  made  by  the  natives  of  fur 
matched  together,  but  by  the  English  manufactured  from  a  coarse 
woolen  cloth.  Where  the  wolves  were  not  too  numerous,  deer 
were  in  plenty.  Foxes  were  abundant  up  to  the  Revolution,  when 
gentlemen  made  excursions  from  the  little  old  City  of  New  York 
to  McGown's  Pass  in  Central  Park  to  hunt  them.  The  under- 
brush swarmed  with  rattlesnakes,  which  were  particularly  numer- 
ous in  what  is  now  Mt.  Morris  Park,  New  York  City.  This 
eminence  once  bore  the  suggestive  name  of  Snake  Hill. 

The  waters  of  New  York  abounded  with  fish.  Oysters  of  great 
size  also  grew  here  in  profusion.  Oyster  shells  nearly  a  foot  long 
have  been  found  on  ancient  Indian  camp-sites. 

There  were  also  marvellously  big  lobsters  here,  veritable  giants 
of  their  kind.  We  are  told  that  they  measured  six  feet  long.  It 
is  probable  that  that  does  not  stretch  the  truth  much,  for  the 
writer  of  these  pages  has  seen  and  photographed  a  lobster  in 
Maine  as  long  as  a  six-year-old  child. 

Among  the  animals  which  lived  partly  in  the  water  and  partly 
on  the  land,  muskrats,  otter  and  beaver  were  valued  on  account  of 
their  skins.  The  beaver  is  a  very  remarkable  animal.  He  dis- 
plays wonderful  architectural  knowledge  in  building  lodges,  dams 
and  canals.  His  industry  has  become  a  proverb.  We  say  that  a 
person  who  works  hard  "  works  like  a  beaver."  The  Indians  be- 
lieved the  beaver  to  be  immortal.  The  white  man  thought  differ- 
ently, however,  and  killed  this  interesting  creature  for  his  valu- 
able fur.    The  commercial  greatness  of  the  Port  of  New  York  can 


32 


be  traced  back  to  its  beginning  in  the  traffic  in  beaver  skins.  In 
the  eighteenth  century,  America  exported  no  less  than  200,000  of 
these  skins  a  year.  It  is  on  account  of  the  importance  of  this 
animal  in  the  history  of  the  Metropolis  that  its  picture  has  been 
placed  in  the  official  seal  of  the  City.  In  the  marshes  dwelt 
another  class  of  amphibious  creatures,  which  made  a  great  deal 
more  noise  and  did  a  great  deal  less  work  than  the  beaver.  They 
were  "  the  most  wonderful  bull-frogs,"  says  a  Dutch  historian, 
"  which  croak  with  a  ringing  noise  in  the  evening  as  in  Holland." 

There  was  a  great  variety  of  birds  in  olden  times,  most  of  which 
have  been  driven  away  by  the  approach  of  civilization  but  some 
of  which  occasionally  frequent  our  parks.  Two  of  the  largest 
and  most  interesting  of  the  feathered  creatures  which  the  white 
man  found  when  he  came  here  were  the  eagle  and  turkey.  Both 
of  these  have  become,  in  a  sense,  national  birds.  One  is  the 
emblem  of  freedom ;  it  is  in  our  national  coat  of  arms  and  is 
stamped  on  our  coinage.  The  other  we  have  domesticated  to  fur- 
nish forth  our  national  feast. 

When  Verrazzano  entered  the  harbor  of  New  York  in  1524,  he 
"  found  the  country  on  its  banks  well  peopled,  the  inhabitants 
not  differing  much  from  the  others  "  whom  he  had  seen  on  the 
coast  of  the  southern  states,  "  being  dressed  out  with  the  feathers 
of  birds  of  various  colors."  When  Hudson  came  85  years  later, 
he  was  visited  by  people,  some  of  whom  came  "  in  mantles  of 
feathers  and  some  in  skinnes  of  divers  sorts  of  good  furres.  They 
go  in  deere  skins  loose,  well  dressed,"  says  the  journal  of  his 
voyage.  "  They  have  yellow  copper.  They  desire  cloathes  and 
are  very  civill." 

When  one  goes  up  to  the  northern  end  of  Manhattan  Island 
and  sees  the  empty  shells  of  oysters  which  the  Indians  ate,  it 
seems  as  if  it  were  but  yesterday  when  they  departed,  leaving 
their  kitchen  middens  and  some  of  their  implements  behind  them. 

To  understand  who  our  predecessors  were,  it  is  necessary  to 
explain  first  that  all  North  American  Indians  were  not  alike.  A 
Manhattan  Island  Indian  differed  in  language  and  in  many  cus- 
toms, not  only  from  a  Florida  Indian  or  a  Rocky  Mountain 
Indian,  but  even  from  the  interior  Indian  of  New  York  State. 
According  to  these  differences,  chiefly  of  language,  the  Indians 


Fortified  Indian  Village.  See  pages  4  and  65. 


33 


between  the  Atlantic  Coast  and  the  Kocky  Mountains  have  been 
classified  into  six  or  seven  principal  groups.  Only  two  of  these 
groups  have  to  do  with  the  history  of  New  York — the  Algon- 
quins  and  the  Iroquois. 

The  Algonquins,  which  included  the  Indians  about  the  harbor 
of  New  York,  had  a  vast  range  along  the  Atlantic  coast.  They 
were  bounded  on  the  northeast  by  the  Esquimaux  of  Labrador, 
and  on  the  south  by  the  Maskoki  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  region, 
and  reached  westward  to  the  Great  Lakes. 

In  the  interior  of  New  York  State,  and  surrounded  by  the 
Algonquins  like  an  island,  were  the  powerful  Iroquois.  The 
Iroquois  were  a  terror  to  their  neighbors,  many  of  whom  they  had 
conquered  and  upon  whom  they  levied  tribute. 

The  Algonquins  were  divided,  by  differences  of  language,  into 
minor  groups,  as  the  Latin  people  of  Europe  are  divided  into 
Italians,  Spaniards  and  Frenchmen.  One  of  these  Algonquin 
minor  groups  was  called  the  Lenni-Lenape.  Their  name  means 
"  Original  People."    They  were  also  called  the  Delawares. 

The  Lenni-Lenape  were  divided  into  tribes  which  had  lesser 
differences  of  language,  similar  to  the  differences  of  dialect  in  the 
various  provinces  of  France.  They  took  their  names  from  some 
characteristic  occupation,  or  from  their  geographical  location,  or 
from  some  feature  of  the  place  where  they  lived,  or  from  the 
sachem  or  chief  who  was  at  their  head. 

The  Lenni-Lenape,  or  Original  People,  around  New  York 
harbor  were  therefore  divided  into  tribes  with  various  names, 
some  of  which  are  perpetuated  in  our  local  place-names  to-day. 

Contrary  to  common  belief,  there  was  no  tribe  of  Manhattan 
Indians.  The  name  Manhattan  first  appears  as  "  Mannahata  " 
in  Juet's  journal  of  Hudson's  voyage  of  1609.  He  refers  to  a 
cliff  of  "  the  colour  of  a  white  green,"  which  seems  to  mean  the 
colored  cliff  of  Hoboken,  and  says  "  It  is  on  that  side  of  the 
river  that  is  called  Manna-hata."  This  is  confirmed  by  the 
map  of  1610  reproduced  herewith,  in  which  Manahata  is 
placed  on  the  New  Jersey  side  of  the  river  and  Manahatin  on 
the  New  York  side.  When  the  Dutch  came  they  used  the 
name  Manhattans  to  signify  not  only  the  Island  but  the  whole 


34 


region  roundabout.  They  would  speak  of  going  to  "  the  .Man- 
hattans "  as  one  would  speak  of  going  to  Virginia.  The  region 
to  which  they  applied  the  name  included  several  tribes  of  the 
neighborhood  who  spoke  similar  dialects.  "  The  Manhatans  lan- 
guage," says  a  document  of  the  Dutch  period,  "  was  used  by  the 
Indians  hereabout."  Gradually  the  use  of  the  name  was  nar- 
rowed down  to  Manhattan  Island. 

The  Manhattan  Indians  —  using  the  term  in  a  general  way  to 
mean  those  around  the  harbor  —  as  well  as  the  interior  Indians, 
were  an  interesting  and  picturesque  people.  They  were  tall  and 
handsome ;  straight  as  an  arrow ;  brave  as  a  lion ;  and  fleet  as  a 
deer.  They  were  bold  in  battle,  obstinate  in  defense,  stoical 
under  torment  and  fearless  in  death.  For  their  enemies  they  had 
no  mercy ;  but  they  received  the  white  men  lovingly  until  pro- 
voked to  retaliation  by  attempts  at  enslavement  and  other  out- 
rages. Though  not  so  far  advanced  from  the  stage  of  barbarism 
as  the  aborigines  of  New  Mexico,  Arizona,  Mexico  and  Yucatan, 
they  were  ingenious  in  the  use  of  natural  objects  and  forces. 
Their  senses  of  sight  and  hearing  were  much  more  acutely  de- 
veloped than  ours  of  to-day,  and  in  their  woodcraft  they  were 
very  shrewd  in  drawing  conclusions  from  what  they  saw  and 
heard. 

In  appearance  their  complexion  was  copper  colored.  Their 
hair  was  raven  black  and  as  coarse  as  a  horse's  tail.  Their  eyes 
were  black  or  brown,  and  piercing.  Their  teeth  were  wdiite  and 
well-formed.  They  wore  no  beards,  pulling  it  out  by  the  roots 
when  it  appeared. 

Their  clothing  was  scant,  especially  in  summer-time.  While 
they  wove  coarse  mats  from  rushes,  they  did  not  know  how  to 
make  cloth  and  their  garments  were  made  of  the  skins  of  animals 
and  the  feathers  of  birds.  They  wore  a  skin  about  their  loins,  and 
a  mantle  made  of  a  single  deer  skin,  or  of  peltries  sewed  together, 
or  of  woven  turkey  feathers  hung  from  the  shoulders.  Their 
mantles  reached  from  their  shoulders  to  their  feet,  and  at  night 
were  used  for  bed  covers.  Their  shoes,  called  moccasins,  were 
generally  made  of  deer-skin,  but  sometimes  of  corn  husks. 

Dominie  Megapolensis'  description  of  the  Iroquois  (Mo- 
hawks) and  David  De  Vries'  description  of  the  tribes  about  New 


35 


Amsterdam,  indicate  that  the  men  of  both  regions  wore  their 
hair  alike.  On  the  top  of  their  heads  they  had  a  ridge  of  hair, 
about  three  fingers  wide,  which  extended  from  the  forehead  over 
to  the  back  of  the  neck  and  which  stood  up  "  like  a  cock's  comb  or 
hog  bristles."  On  each  side  of  this  the  hair  was  cropped  close, 
except  that  they  wore  a  long  lock  on  one  side,  and  sometimes,  but 
not  always,  a  similar  long  lock  on  the  other  side.  They  frequently 
ornamented  their  hair  with  the  feathers  of  the  eagle  or  turkey, 
and  the  chiefs  and  sachems  wore  elaborate  feather  headdresses 
as  insignia  of  rank.  They  wore  necklaces  of  bear's  claws,  shells, 
and  copper  —  the  latter  probably  obtained  from  the  copper  mines 
of  Lake  Superior,  by  trading. 

The  Indian  woman  ornamented  herself  more  than  the  man  did. 
She  wore  a  petticoat  which  came  to  the  knees,  richly  ornamented 
with  shell  beads,  and  the  tips  of  the  deer-skin  in  which  she 
wrapped  herself  were  made  into  tassels.  She  bound  her  hair  in 
one  or  two  plaits  which  would  sometimes  fall  in  front  of  the 
shoulders  like  an  American  girl's  "  braids."  Over  her  hair  she 
sometimes  drew  a  square  cap  thickly  interwoven  with  shell  beads. 
She  also  wTore  shell-bead  ornaments  on  her  forehead,  around  her 
neck,  and  on  her  arms,  and  belts  of  the  same  about  the  waist. 

The  men  painted  and  stained  their  bodies  with  colors  made 
from  powdered  earths  or  extracted  from  plants,  their  war  paint 
being  as  hideous  as  they  could  make  it.  The  women  only  painted 
a  black  spot  here  and  there,  just  as  the  court  ladies  of  Europe  used 
to  put  patches  of  court-plaster  on  their  faces  for  ornamental 
purposes. 

The  wigwams  of  the  Manhattan  Indians  appear  to  have  been  of 
the  Iroquois  type,  and  were  almost  always  built  after  one  plan. 
The  breadth  was  always  about  20  feet,  but  their  length  varied 
according  to  requirements.  Flexible  poles  about  15  feet  long 
were  set  up  in  the  ground  in  two  rows  about  20  feet  apart.  The 
rows  were  as  long  as  the  house  was  to  be.  Then  they  bent  the 
opposite  poles  toward  each  other  and  bound  their  ends  together, 
thus  making  a  sort  of  open-work  arbor  of  poles.  Upon  these  sap- 
ling arches,  strips  of  wrood  were  fastened  lengthwise  and  the  whole 
framework  was  covered  with  mats  or  with  the  bark  of  different 
kinds  of  trees.    The  bark  was  laid  with  the  rough  side  outward 


36 


and  the  edges  overlapped  like  the  shingles  of  a  house,  so  as  to 
shed  water.  They  had  no  nails,  and  fastened  everything  with 
withes  of  bark  or  strips  of  leather.  The  lodge  had  an  entrance 
at  each  end,  covered  with  a  flap  of  bark  or  the  skin  of  an  animal, 
and  had  holes  in  the  roof  to  let  out  the  smoke  of  their  fires.  The 
interior  was  often  festooned  with  ears  of  corn  braided  together, 
and  strings  of  dried  meat  and  clams.  Some  of  these  lodges  would 
hold  sixteen  or  eighteen  families  —  more  than  an  ordinary  five- 
story  apartment  house  of  to-day. 

Huddled  together  in  those  close,  smoky  habitations,  they  were 
not  the  cleanliest  of  individuals ;  but  it  must  not  be  imagined  that 
they  never  took  a  bath.  When  an  Indian  was  sick  he  would  some- 
times take  a  bath,  and  do  it  in  a  very  ingenious  manner.  He 
would  make  a  little  earth  hut  and  line  it  with  clay.  Into  this  he 
would  creep  through  a  small  door  and  seat  himself  in  the  middle 
of  a  circle  of  very  hot  stones.  Perhaps  he  would  sprinkle  water 
on  the  stones  to  produce  steam.  When  he  had  perspired  pro- 
fusely, he  would  suddenly  crawl  out  and  jump  into  a  stream  or 
pond  of  water.  This  was  supposed  to  give  him  great  security 
against  all  sorts  of  sickness. 

It  did  not  require  a  large  number  of  lodges  to  make  a  "  vil- 
lage," and  these  communities,  which  varied  in  size,  were  scat- 
tered all  along  the  Hudson  Valley  and  throughout  the  State,  par- 
ticularly near  the  mouths  of  creeks. 

The  Indians  lived  by  agriculture,  hunting  and  fishing.  Their 
vegetable  food  consisted  mainly  of  maize  or  Indian  corn,  beans, 
squashes,  nuts,  plums  and  grapes.  Hudson's  companion  Juet 
says  that  while  in  New  York  harbor  the  natives  brought  him  some 
dried  "  currants "  (probably  raisins),  "  which  were  sweet  and 
good."  From  the  corn,  he  says,  they  made  good  bread.  Corn  and 
beans  mixed  they  called  succotash.  Crushed  corn  boiled  to  a 
gruel  was  "  sappaen."  They  pulverized  their  corn  by  pounding 
it,  sometimes  in  a  wooden  mortar  made  by  hollowing  a  tree  stump 
with  fire,  and  sometimes  in  a  hole  in  a  rock.  When  they  went  to 
war,  they  carried  a  little  dried  corn  in  a  pouch  at  the  belt.  The 
world  has  inherited  the  great  blessing  of  corn  from  the  Indian, 
and  for  that  alone  should  hold  the  red  man  in  grateful  remem- 
brance.  In  1912,  the  United  States  produced  about  3,124,746,000 


37 

bushels  of  corn.  Without  this  the  other  grain  crops  would  not  be 
able  to  meet  the  demand  for  food  stuffs.  Squash  is  an  Algonquin 
word  which  we  adopted  from  the  natives  along  with  the  vegetable. 
Potatoes  and  beans  were  also  inherited  from  the  Indians,  although 
we  have  no  record  of  the  cultivation  of  potatoes  in  this  region. 

The  meat  food  of  the  primitive  New  Yorkers  consisted  chiefly 
of  pigeons  and  other  birds,  wild  turkeys,  deer,  bears  and  dogs. 
The  latter,  a  wolfish  breed,  was  their  only  domestic  animal. 
Eoast  or  boiled  dog  was  regarded  by  the  natives  as  a  sort  of  dish 
of  honor.  When  Hudson  made  one  of  his  landings  up  the  river, 
the  Indians,  to  show  their  hospitality,  "  killed  a  fat  dog,  and 
skinned  it  in  great  haste  with  shells  which  they  had  got  out  of  the 
water."  Hudson  neglects  to  state  how  it  tasted,  but  it  was  prob- 
ably as  appetizing  as  the  dogs  eaten  by  the  Dutch  during  the  seige 
of  Harlem  and  by  the  epicurean  Frenchmen  during  the  seige  of 
Paris.  The  Indians  cracked  the  bones  of  their  meat  food  to 
extract  the  marrow.  Beaver's  tails  were  also  a  great  delicacy 
with  them. 

Their  fish  food  had  a  great  variety  of  kind  and  was  unlimited  in 
quantity.  That  they  consumed  enormous  quantities  of  oysters  and 
clams  is  evident  from  the  extensive  shell-heaps  which  are  yet  to 
be  seen  in  New  York  City  and  along  the  Hudson  Valley.  It  is 
probable,  however,  that  these  shell-heaps  are  not  exclusively  the 
products  of  their  feasts,  for  they  carried  on  an  extensive  industry 
in  drying  oysters  and  clams  for  winter  use  and  for  trading  pur- 
poses. Some  of  the  shell-heaps  are  also  quite  likely  the  refuse 
from  their  wampum  factories. 

From  clam  shells,  oyster  shells,  and  the  shells  of  the  periwinkle, 
the  Indians  made  their  money  in  the  form  of  beads  which  they 
called  wampumpeag  or  sewant.  It  was  also  called  wampum,  or 
peag,  for  brevity.  Long  Island  was  the  "  mint  "  of  the  New 
York  Indians.  It  had  two  aboriginal  names,  Sewanhacky  and 
Mattauwack.  Sewanhacky  (spelled  "  Seawanhaka  "  by  a  well- 
known  modern  yacht  club)  means  the  "  land  of  sewant "  or  place 
of  shells.  Mattauwack  (now  spelled  Montauk)  means  land  of 
the  periwinkle. 

The  principal  occupation  of  the  male  Indians  was  hunting  and 
fighting.    The  existence  of  war  was  indicated  by  a  hatchet  painted 


38 


red,  ornamented  with  red  feathers  and  struck  into  a  post  in  the 
village.  Their  weapons  were  the  bow  and  arrow,  the  war  club 
and  tomahawk. 

The  aborigines  knew  nothing  about  gun  powder,  and  when  they 
first  saw  firearms  used,  they  thought  the  white  men  were  gods 
discharging  lightning  and  thunder. 

The  Indians  hunted  with  the  bow  and  arrow,  fished  with  spear 
and  bone-hook,  and  trapped  with  cunningly  made  snares.  Iron 
was  unknown  to  the  aborigines.  To  give  their  arrows  a  hard 
point,  they  occasionally  used  copper,  pieces  of  bone,  horn,  and 
bear's  teeth,  but  generally  they  tipped  their  shafts  with  stone 
chipped  into  a  three-cornered  shape. 

Their  other  implements  and  weapons  were  as  simple  as  their 
arrows.  The  tomahawk  and  the  war-club  consisted  of  a  grooved 
stone  bound  to  the  handle  with  a  deer  sinew.  Their  axes,  skin- 
ning knives,  scrapers  and  hammers  were  stones  of  different  shapes. 
Their  pails  and  dishes  were  made  of  bark  folded  up  like  the 
modern  grocer's  butter  box.  Their  spoons  were  made  of  wood. 
Their  awls  were  made  of  stone,  horn  and  bone  and  their  needles 
of  the  latter.  Their  fish-hooks  were  made  of  bone.  They  had 
coarsely  woven  baskets,  and  they  made  bowls  or  jars  of  clay.  The 
pottery  of  the  Iroquois  and  Manhattan  Indians  differed  somewhat 
in  shape  and  ornament.  A  shell  fastened  to  the  end  of  a  stick 
made  a  poor  hoe,  but  a  stone  hoe  or  an  all-wood  hoe  was  better. 
So  ignorant  were  they  of  the  use  of  iron  implements  that  when 
iron  axes  were  first  given  to  them,  they  hung  them  from  their 
necks  for  ornaments,  like  lockets. 

With  such  simple  instruments,  these  children  of  Xature  felled 
trees,  made  canoes  out  of  solid  wood,  and  accomplished  many 
other  remarkable  things.  When  the  Indian  wanted  to  build  a  fire 
he  generally  took  a  stick  of  hard,  dry  wood,  pressed  it  against  a 
piece  of  soft,  dry  wood,  and  twirled  it  so  rapidly  with  a  bow-string 
that  it  made  heat  enough  to  produce  a  spark  in  tinder.  It  is  said 
that  they  also  produced  fire  by  rubbing  two  dry  sticks  together  or 
by  striking  sparks  from  certain  kinds  of  flinty  stones. 

When  an  Indian  wanted  to  fell  a  tree,  he  built  a  fire  around  the 
bottom  of  it  and  burned  it  down,  preventing  the  flames  from 
ascending  the  trunk  by  wetting  it  above  a  certain  line.  They 


39 


made  large  canoes  from  tree  trunks  by  hollowing  them  out  with 
fire  and  scraping  the  charred  wood  with  stone  implements. 
Canoes  of  this  sort  were  commonly  used  in  the  waters  about  Man- 
hattan Island  when  the  white  men  came.  Some  of  them  would 
hold  a  dozen  or  fifteen  men. 

The  Iroquois  also  made  canoes  by  covering  a  wooden  frame- 
work with  the  bark  of  trees.  These  craft  were  very  light  and  the 
Indians  traveled  in  them  with  wonderful  speed.  The  natives 
knew  nothing  about  the  use  of  sails,  and  when  they  saw  a 
European  ship  the  first  time,  they  thought  it  was  a  great  bird. 

The  Indians  made  the  women  do  most  of  the  work.  The  latter 
had  to  get  the  fire-wood,  draw  the  water,  cook  the  food,  plant  the 
corn,  cultivate  the  tobacco  and  do  most  of  the  other  drudgery.  To 
perform  these  labors  and  to  take  care  of  a  baby  at  the  same  time 
was  not  difficult  for  an  Indian  mother,  for  she  strapped  the  baby 
to  a  board  and  carried  it  on  her  back,  or  hung  it  up  on  the  limb 
of  a  tree  and  it  caused  her  no  inconvenience. 

Tobacco  culture  was  an  important  industry  among  the  aborig- 
ines, for  it  was  the  source  of  their  principal  solace.  Their  food 
was  simple  and  water  satisfied  their  thirst.  Drunkenness  was 
unknown  among  the  Indians  of  this  State  until  Hudson  took  some 
Indians  "  downe  into  the  cabin  and  gave  them  so  much  wine  and 
aqua  vita?  that  they  were  all  merrie  and  ...  in  the  ende  one 
of  them  was  drunke ;  .  .  .  and  that  was  strange  to  them,  for 
they  could  not  tell  how  to  take  it." 

The  red  man  taught  the  white  man  to  use  tobacco.  The  native, 
having  few  other  luxuries,  enjoyed  his  tobacco  to  the  utmost. 
He  smoked  it  in  pipes  made  of  copper,  stone  and  clay,  upon  which 
he  often  exercised  his  best  art  of  ornamentation.  He  rarely 
smoked  his  tobacco  pure,  usually  tempering  it  with  the  bark  of 
certain  trees  or  with  certain  weeds. 

So  highly  was  tobacco  esteemed  that  it  was  used  in  religious 
and  other  ceremonies  and  possessed  a  deep  significance.  By  the 
incense  of  tobacco  they  communed  with  their  Great  Spirit,  and 
at  any  great  waterfall,  like  Niagara,  they  would  pour  wooden 
platefuls  of  tobacco  into  the  cataract  as  offerings  to  their  Manitou. 
Upon  the  approach  of  strangers  the  holding  up  of  a  calumet  or 
peace  pipe  was  a  sign  of  friendship,  which  was  confirmed  by 


40 


smoking  it.  Treaties  of  peace  were  generally  concluded  by  the 
smoking  of  the  calumet  by  the  chiefs  of  the  opposite  parties.  In 
the  early  days  of  the  Dutch  regime  tobacco  was  raised  on  Man- 
hattan Island  and  Long  Island  (now  Brooklyn). 

The  Indians  also  diverted  themselves  with  games,  some  of 
which  resembled  modern  amusements.  They  played  games  of 
chance  by  throwing  plum  stones  and  certain  small  bones  of  the 
deer,  somewhat  as  dice  are  thrown.  They  also  played  a  game  of 
ball.  The  children  amused  themselves  with  dolls,  very  much  as 
white  children  do.  They  used  to  sing  in  a  weird  sort  of  way,  but 
they  did  not  have  what  we  would  call  musical  instruments. 
Sometimes  when  they  felt  good  after  a  feast,  they  would  sing  and 
pound  their  wooden  spoons  upon  their  bark  dishes.  In  their 
religious  ceremonies  they  used  drums  and  rattles.  The  latter 
were  sometimes  made  of  dried  gourds  and  sometimes  of  turtle 
shells.    They  are  also  said  to  have  made  whistles  of  bone  or  horn. 

They  had  no  alphabet  or  written  language.  They  had  a  crude 
way  of  making  pictures  on  trees  when  traveling  to  indicate  the 
direction  in  which  they  had  gone,  the  number  of  their  party,  etc., 
and  on  their  lodges  to  indicate  their  successes  in  battle.  But  if 
the  Indian  children  thereby  escaped  the  study  of  "  reading, 
'riting  and  'rithmetic,"  they  did  not  escape  the  study  of  history. 
This  was  taught  to  them  by  their  elders,  and  consisted  of  legends 
and  narratives  handed  down  from  generation  to  generation  by 
word  of  mouth. 

History-telling  was  highly  esteemed  among  the  aborigines,  and 
many  a  tedious  evening  was  whiled  away,  as  they  squatted  around 
the  camp-fire,  smoking  their  pipes,  and  listening  to  the  accounts 
of  adventures  in  hunt  or  battle,  or  of  the  deeds  of  their  ancestors, 
or  to  the  marvelous  creations  of  their  poetic  imagination. 

The  Indians  believed  in  a  Great  Spirit  and  a  future  life.  Their 
heaven  was  a  happy  hunting  ground,  and  some  of  them  believed 
that  the  Milky  Way  was  the  path  through  the  skies  to  that  abode 
of  bliss.  They  had  many  strange  superstitions  and  equally  strange 
religious  ceremonies.  One  of  the  most  curious  of  the  latter  was 
the  White  Dog  worship.* 

*  The  writer  has  exhumed  Indian  dog  burials  on  Manhattan  Island,  but  there 
was  no  evidence  that  the  dog-skeletons,  so  carefully  buried  under  oyster  shells, 
were  the  remains  of  White  Dog  ceremonies. 


41 


When,  at  last,  the  Indian  himself  died,  he  was  generally  buried 
in  a  sitting  posture.  In  his  grave  were  placed  food,  hunting  and 
cooking  implements  and  Indian  money,  for  use  on  his  journey  to 
the  next  world ;  and  a  fire  was  built  on  the  grave  to  enable  the 
spirit  to  cook  its  food.  In  very  ancient  times,  the  Indians  had  a 
beautiful  custom  of  capturing  a  bird  and  freeing  it  over  the  grave 
on  the  evening  of  burial  to  bear  the  spirit  away  to  heaven. 

At  an  Indian  funeral  the  men  were  generally  very  quiet,  but 
the  women  "  carried  on  uncommonly  "  says  an  old  writer,  beating 
their  breasts,  tearing  their  faces,  and  calling  the  name  of  the  de- 
ceased day  and  night.  On  the  death  of  a  son,  the  mother  would 
cut  off  her  hair  and  burn  it  on  the  grave  in  the  presence  of  all  the 
relatives.  On  the  death  of  a  husband,  the  widow  did  the  same 
and  painted  her  face  black  for  a  year. 

Thus  lived  and  died  the  untutored  children  of  nature  who  were 
the  first  owners  of  New  York  —  simple  in  knowledge,  simple  in 
faith,  picturesque  in  everything.  Little  did  they  imagine  that 
the  trails  along  which  they  trod  with  silent  moccasined  feet  would 
sometime  roar  with  the  traffic  of  the  second  city  of  the  world ;  that 
where  their  little  bark  wigwams  stood  would  rise  piles  of  clay, 
stone  and  iron  so  high  as  to  shut  out  the  light  and  wind  of 
heaven;  that  their  forests  would  vanish  and  with  them  the  timid 
deer  and  the  growling  bear  which  had  yielded  them  food  and 
clothing;  that  the  glistening  lakes  in  which  they  fished  would  be 
filled  up;  that  the  sparkling  streams  in  which  the  beaver  built 
his  lodge  and  reared  his  young  would  be  buried  out  of  sight ;  that 
they  themselves,  the  monarchs  of  all  they  surveyed,  would  shrink 
and  consume  away  before  a  civilization  of  which  they  had  never 
so  much  as  dreamed  and  that  the  time  would  come  when  white 
strangers  would  dig  up  their  skeletons,  pick  up  their  arrow  points, 
search  their  shell  heaps,  and  uncover  their  dog-bones,  in  an  effort 
to  call  them  back  to  memory  and  reconstruct  their  lives. 

The  Return  of  the  Half  Moon  to  Holland,  1609-1610 

At  the  time  of  the  Hudson-Fulton  Celebration  in  1909,  wide 
attention  was  given  to  the  history  of  Hudson's  voyage  of  1609 
and  events  preceding  it  bearing  on  the  discovery  and  exploration 


42 


of  the  Atlantic  Coast  of  North  America.*  The  subject  of  the 
beginning  of  the  commerce  of  New  Xetherland  brings  us  to  the 
consideration  of  the  decade  and  a  half  following  Hudson's  voyage 
of  1609  —  a  period  during  which,  in  the  minds  of  Europeans, 
this  region  issued  from  the  penumbra  of  uncertain  knowledge  and 
its  attractions  became  so  well  known  that  regular  commerce  was 
begun  and  a  permanent  colony  was  planted  in  New  Netherland. 

Two  of  our  most  valuable  informants  of  that  period  whom  we 
shall  frequently  quote  require  a  few  words  of  introduction. 

One  of  these  is  Nicolaes  van  Wassenaer,  who  was  a  learned  man 
of  Amsterdam,  a  practicing  physician  and  author  of  historical 
and  medical  works.  In  1622  he  began  at  Amsterdam  the  publi- 
cation of  a  semi-annual  record  of  the  most  remarkable  events  in 
Europe  and  America  under  the  title  of  "  Historisch  Verhael  alder 
ghedenckweerdichste  Geschiedenissen  die  hier  en  daer  in  Europa 
.  .  .  voorgevallen  syn."  There  were  21  of  these  semi-annual 
parts  covering  the  years  1621-1631.  This  authority  will  be  re- 
ferred to,  for  brevity,  as  "  Wassenaer."  As  this  rare  work,  pub- 
lished in  black-letter  text  in  the  Dutch  language,  is  unavailable 
to  most  readers,  we  shall  quote  from  the  translation  in  "  Narra- 
tives of  New  Netherland,"  by  J.  Franklin  Jameson,  unless  other- 
wise expressly  stated. 

Another  authority  of  contemporaneous  value  is  Joannes  de 
Laet  of  Leyden,  who  was  a  scholar  and  author  of  note,  and  who 
in  1625  published  a  large  folio  volume  entitled  the  "  Nieuwe 
Wereldt,  ofte  Beschrijvinghe  van  West  Indien,"  etc.  The  Dutch 
title,  translated  in  full,  is  as  follows :  "  New  World,  or  Descrip- 
tion of  West  India,  collected  out  of  Various  Writings  and  Notes 
from  Various  Nations  by  Joannes  de  Laet,  and  provided  with 
needful  Maps  and  Tables."  We  will  refer  to  this  source  as  "  De 
Laet and  as  consultation  of  this  work  is  under  the  same  limita- 

*  A  monograph  on  Hudson's  voyage  by  the  present  writer  was  published  in 
pamphlet  form  by  the  Hudson-Fulton  Celebration  Commission  under  the  title 
of  "  Hudson  and  Fulton  "  and  embodied  in  the  Official  Minutes  of  that  Com- 
mission at  pages  795-870.  This  monograph,  considerably  elaborated  with 
respect  to  Hudson's  voyage,  and  accompanied  by  plans  of  the  Half  Moon,  was 
printed  in  the  Fifteenth  Annual  Report  of  the  American  Scenic  and  Historic 
Preservation  Society  to  the  Legislature  in  1910.  In  the  same  report  is  the 
text  of  a  newly  discovered  copy  of  Verrazzano's  letter  of  1524  and  critique  on 
the  same  verifying  the  claims  of  Verrazzano's  voyage  in  1524.  The  publications 
of  the  New  York  Historical  Society  also  contain  interesting  documents  on 
this  subject. 


43 


tions  as  that  of  Wassenaer,  we  shall  quote  from  the  translations  in 
Jameson's  "  Narratives  of  Xew  Xetherland "  unless  otherwise 
stated. 

Other  authorities  are  Van  Meteren's  "  Belgische  ofte  Xeder- 
landsche  Oorlogen,"  etc.,  and  the  wealth  of  documentary  testi- 
mony found  in  the  volumes  entitled  "  Documents  Relating  to  the 
Colonial  History  of  the  State  of  Xew  York,"  procured  by  John 
Romeyn  Brodhead  in  England,  France  and  Holland  and  edited 
by  Dr.  E.  B.  O'Callaghan  * 

It  will  be  recalled  that  Hudson,  after  leaving  Xew  York 
Harbor  in  October,  1609,  arrived  safely  at  Dartmouth,  England, 
November  7,  1609.  (Juet's  Journal  in  Xarr.  Xew  Xeth.  p.  28.) 
But  owing  to  contrary  winds,  which  prevented  communication 
with  Holland,  a  long  time  elapsed  before  the  Dutch  East  India 
Company  could  be  informed  of  the  arrival  of  the  Half  Moon  in 
England.  The  Company  then  ordered  the  ship  and  crew  to  return 
as  soon  as  possible.  But  when  this  was  about  to  be  done,  Hudson 
and  the  other  Englishmen  of  the  ship  were  commanded  by  the 
English  government  not  to  leave  England.  (Van  Meteren's 
"Belgische  ofte  Xederlandsche  Oorlogen,"  etc.,  edition  of  1611, 
trans,  in  "  Xarr.  Xew  Xeth."  pp.  8-9.)  After  vexatious  delays, 
Hudson  was  permitted  to  send  his  reports  to  the  Dutch  East  India 
Company,  and  in  July,  1610,  the  Half  Moon  reached  Amsterdam. 

Voyages  to  New  Netherland  in  1610 

Van  Meteren,  referring  to  the  detention  of  Hudson  in  Eng- 
land, says:  "This  took  place  in  January,  1610,  and  it  was 
thought  probable  that  the  English  themselves  would  send  ships  to 
Virginia  to  explore  further  the  said  river  " —  the  name  Virginia 
being  applied  then  to  the  whole  region  from  34°  to  45°  north 
latitude. 

The  probability  that  the  English  did  precisely  what  Van 

*  Owing  to  the  conflicting  dates  and  statements  often  given  by  writers 
working  from  secondary  authorities,  the  present  occasion  has  seemed  to  be 
sufficiently  important  to  warrant  a  new  and  careful  study  of  primary  sources. 
For  that  reason,  the  following  pages  will  quote  frequently  verbatim  from 
original  documents  and  contemporary  annals,  and  will  endeavor  to  show,  as 
well  as  possible  in  a  limited  number  of  r>asres.  the  preponderance  of  evidence 
in  favor  of  the  facts  stated.  Tt  is  hoped  that  what  may  thus  be  lost  in  fluency 
of  narrative  may  be  more  than  compensated  for  by  the  knowledge  of  the 
foundation  for  the  conclusions. 


44 


Meteren  predicted  is  heightened  by  the  circumstances  attending 
the  making  of  the  earliest  known  map  of  Manahata  in  1610 
which  is  in  the  general  archives  in  Simancas,  Spain.  This  map, 
which  is  reproduced  in  Alexander  Brown's  "  Genesis  of  the  United 
States  "  and  a  portion  of  which  is  reproduced  herewith,  was  sent 
to  the  King  of  Spain  in  a  letter  dated  March  22,  1611,  by  Alonso 
de  Velasco,  the  Spanish  ambassador  to  England.  Yelasco,  who 
secretly  conveyed  to  his  sovereign  every  bit  of  information  which 
he  could  get  about  English  explorations  and  discoveries,  wrote 
that  in  1610  the  King  of  England  had  sent  to  Virginia  a  surveyor 
to  survey  the  province  and  the  surveyor  had  returned  to  London 
about  the  month  of  December,  1610,  with  a  map  of  all  he  had  dis- 
covered. Velasco  surreptitiously  obtained  a  copy  of  the  map  and 
sent  it  with  his  letter.  (Brown's  Genesis  of  the  U.  S.)  It  is  not 
known  who  made  the  map,  which  delineates  the  Atlantic  coast 
from  Cape  Fear  to  Newfoundland.  It  is  evident  that  whoever 
did  make  it  embodied  in  it  information  derived  from  others.  But 
the  startling  fact  concerning  the  Hudson  river  is,  that  this  is  the 
first  approximately  correct  delineation  of  it,  certain  characteristic 
crooks  and  turns  in  it  indicating  that  it  was  drawn  by  a  man  who 
had  been  up  the  river.  As  it  is  most  likely  that  Hudson  would 
sacredly  have  guarded  his  maps  for  his  Dutch  employers,  it  is  in 
the  same  degree  probable  that  the  Hudson  river  was  delineated  by 
an  Englishman  who  visited  it  in  1610  as  stated  by  Velasco. 

We  also  have  more  convincing  evidence  from  De  Laet,  and  from 
Van  Kampen's  "  Nederlanders  buiten  Europa  "  (I,  331)  that  the 
Dutch  sent  a  ship  back  to  the  Hudson  river  in  1610.  De  Laet 
says : 

"  Hendrick  Hudson  having  returned  to  Amsterdam  with  this 
report,  in  the  year  1610  some  merchants  again  sent  a  ship 
thither  —  that  is  to  say,  to  the  second  river  discovered,  which  was 
called  Manhattes  from  the  savage  nation  that  dwells  at  its 
mouth."    (Narr.  New  Keth.  p.  38.) 

This  Dutch  voyage  of  1610  is  indicated  again  in  a  memorial 
by  the  West  India  Company  to  the  States  General  exhibited 
May  5,  1632,  in  which  the  memorialists  say: 

"  Subsequent  to  the  first  discovery  by  your  subjects  in  1609  of 
the  North  Eiver  (commonly  called  the  Manhattos,  also  Rio  de 


45 


Montaigne  and  North  River)  and  after  some  of  your  inhabitants 
had  resorted  thither  in  the  year  1610  and  following  years,"  etc. 
(Documents  Relating  to  the  Colonial  History  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  I,  51.) 

We  deduce  the  names  of  the  promoters  of  the  Dutch  voyage  of 
1610  from  De  Laet  and  the  Documents  Relating  to  the  Colonial 
History  of  the  State  of  New  York.  In  the  1625  edition  of 
De  Laet  above  quoted,  he  says  "in  the  year  1610  some  merchants 
again  sent  a  ship  thither."  In  the  editions  of  1633  and  1640  he 
says  "some  merchants  of  Amsterdam/'  He  also  says:  "And 
in  the  subsequent  years "  —  that  is,  the  years  subsequent  to 
1610  —  "  their  High  Mightinesses  the  States  General  granted  to 
these  merchants  the  exclusive  privilege  of  navigating  this  river 
and  trading  there.  Whereupon,  in  the  year  1615,"  etc.  (Narr. 
New  Neth.  p.  38.)  Now  the  merchants  to  whom  this  exclusive 
privilege  was  given  are  named  in  the  grant  of  October  11,  1614 
(see  page  56  following),  and  therefore  must  have  been  the  pro- 
moters of  the  voyage  in  1610. 

Search  for  Northeast  and  Northwest  Passages  in  1610  and  1611 

The  voyages  to  New  Netherland  in  1610  appear  to  have  been  in 
the  nature  of  private  enterprises,  stimulated  by  the  reports  of 
Hudson's  voyage  of  1609,  and  to  have  been  of  importance 
secondary  to  the  movements  of  the  more  powerfully  organized 
English  and  Dutch  companies,  whose  dominant  idea  was  to  find 
a  short  passage  to  the  East  Indies  either  by  the  northeastward 
around  Asia  or  the  northwestward  around  North  America. 

Thus  it  was  in  1610,  the  English  East  India  Company,  the 
Company  of  Merchant  Adventurers  and  a  group  of  noblemen  and 
London  merchants,  united  in  sending  out  Hudson,  not  to  revisit 
and  take  possession  of  the  Hudson  River  region,  but  to  seek  a 
northwest  passage  to  the  Indies. 

While  Hudson's  ship  was  wintering  in  Hudson's  Bay,  the  Col- 
lege of  the  Admiralty  at  Amsterdam,  possessed  with  the  same 
idea,  was  preparing,  under  the  authority  of  the  States  General,  to 
equip  an  expedition  to  attempt  again  the  northeast  passage  by 
way  of  the  North  Cape  and  Vaigats.  Nevertheless,  the  projectors 
appear  not  to  have  forgotten  entirely  the  results  of  Hudson's 
voyage  in  1609,  and,  while  preparing  for  a  northeast  voyage,  to 


46 


have  had  a  mental  squint  toward  the  west.  In  March,  1611,  this 
expedition  set  forth.  It  consisted  of  two  ships,  the  Fox  (de  Vos), 
sometimes  called  in  the  Dutch  records  the  Little  Fox  (de  Vosgen 
of  Vosken),  and  the  Crane  (de  Craen),  sometimes  called  the 
Little  Crane  (de  Craentgen  or  Craentien).  The  skipper  of  the 
Fox  was  Jan  Cornelisz.  May  and  that  of  the  Crane  was  Simon 
Willemsz.  Cat.  They  started  bravely  for  the  North  Cape  and 
Nova  Zembla,  just  as  Hudson  did  in  1609,  and,  finding  themselves 
baffled  as  he  was,  also  imitated  him  by  turning  their  prows  for 
America.  They  reached  Nova  Scotia  in  October,  1611,  and  ex- 
plored the  New  England  coast  as  far  south  as  Cape  Cod,  which 
latter  they  reached  February  15,  1612.  Thence  they  returned  to 
their  former  quest  of  a  passage  by  Nova  Zembla,  without  visiting 
the  Hudson  River.  (De  Reis  van  Jan  Cornelisz.  May,  published 
by  the  Linschoten  Society  at  the  Hague  in  1909.) 

The  foregoing  voyages  of  Hudson  and  May  are  mentioned,  not- 
withstanding the  fact  that  their  destinations  were  not  the  Hudson 
River,  in  order  to  show  by  comparison  the  relative  characters  of 
the  voyages  in  search  of  the  northwest  and  northeast  passages  on 
the  one  hand  and  the  voyages  to  the  Hudson  River  on  the  other, 
during  the  next  few  years.  The  searches  for  the  northwest  and 
northeast  passages  were  conducted  under  combinations  of  powerful 
patronage,  while  the  excursions  to  the  Hudson  River  between 
1609  and  1614  were  private  ventures,  much  in  the  nature  of 
prospecting  trips. 

Voyages  to  the  Hudson  in  1611-1613 

That  enterprising  skippers  reached  these  waters  between  the 
voyages  definitely  referred  to  as  having  been  made  in  1610  and 
those  of  the  five  ships  which  were  made  in  1614  and  are  mentioned 
hereafter,  there  are  reasons  to  believe. 

One  of  the  evidences  of  such  visits  is  the  Carte  Figurative 
which  is  described  more  fully  on  page  61  following.  This  map, 
which  was  made  not  later  than  1616  and  possibly  as  early  as  1614, 
has  this  memorandum,  written  in  Dutch  script,  above  the  site  of 
Albany : 

"As  well  as  one  can  understand  from  the  words  and  signs  of  the 
Mohawks,  the  French  come  with  sloops  as  high  up  as  to  their 
country  to  trade  with  them."    (Docs.  Rel.  Col.  Hist.  S.  N.  Y.) 


-17 


It  is  reasonable  to  infer  that  the  visits  of  French  traders,  which 
had  become  customary  in  1614  or  1616,  began  long  enough  before 
to  have  fallen  within  the  period  of  1611-13. 

There  is  more  definite  data,  however,  for  placing  in  this  period 
a  known  but  undated  voyage  by  Hendrick  Christiaenssen  of 
Cleves,  described  by  Wassenaer  in  the  following  passage : 

"  This  country,  or  the  River  Montague,  called  by  ours  Mauri- 
tius, was  first  sailed  to  by  the  worthy  Hendrick  Christiaenz  of 
Cleves.  When  he  had  been  on  a  voyage  to  the  West  Indies  he 
happened  near  there.  But  his  vessel  being  laden  and  a  ship  be- 
longing to  Monickendam  having  been  wrecked  in  that  neighbor- 
hood, he  durst  not  approach  that  land;  this  he  postponed,  being 
desirous  to  do  so  another  time.  It  so  happened  that  he  and  the 
worthy  Adriaen  Block  chartered  a  ship  with  the  skipper  Ryser, 
and  accomplished  his  voyage  thither,  bringing  back  with  him  two 
sons  of  the  principal  sachem  there.  Though  very  dull  men  they 
were  expert  enough  in  knavery. "    (Narr.  New  Neth.  p.  78.) 

"  The  two  lads  brought  hither  by  Adriaen  Block  were  named 
Orson  and  Valentine.*  This  Orson  was  a  thoroughly  wicked  fel- 
low, and  after  his  return  to  his  own  country  was  the  cause  of 
Hendrick  Christiaenssen's  death.  But  he  was  paid  in  like  coin ; 
he  got  a  bullet  as  his  recompense."    (Narr.  New  iSTeth.  p.  81.) 

In  the  foregoing  quotation  we  have  references  to  three  voyages. 

*  These  names  are  taken  from  an  old  romance  in  which  Orson  and  Valentine 
were  the  twin  sons  of  the  Emperor  of  Constantinople.  Orson,  according  to 
the  old  story,  was  carried  away  by  a  bear  and  reared  as  a  savage  in  the  forest. 
The  practice  of  capturing  Indians  and  taking  them  to  Europe  was  a  common 
one.  Probably  all  of  the  early  explorers  tried  to  do  it  and  many  were  suc- 
cessful. Columbus  began  the  practice  in  1492.  Verrazzano  followed  his 
example  in  1524  by  making  prisoner  of  a  boy  on  the  Maryland  or  Virginia 
coast  and  would  have  done  the  same  with  a  "  young  woman  who  was  of  much 
beauty  and  of  tall  stature  "  but  was  prevented  by  her  screams.  Cartier,  on 
his  first  voyage  in  1534,  captured  two  Indian  boys  who  had  been  confided  to 
him  by  their  father  and  took  them  to  France.  He  brought  them  back  on  his 
second  voyage  and  found  them  very  helpful,  but  he  recaptured  them,  and  in 
addition  five  chiefs  —  Donnacona.  Taignoagny,  Domagaya,  and  two  others  — 
all  of  whom  died  in  France.  In  1605  Capt.  George  Weymouth  captured  five 
Indians  on  the  New  England  Coast.  In  1606,  Capt.  Edward  Harlow  captured 
five  chiefs  on  the  New  England  coast,  one  of  whom,  Exenow,  "was  showed  up 
and  down  London  for  money  as  a  wonder."  In  1609,  Hudson  captured  some 
Indians  who  in  good  faith  went  aboard  the  Half  Moon  in  New  York  harbor,  but 
they  escaped  and  made  him  trouble  afterward.  In  1614  Capt.  Hunt  took 
Squanto  from  the  New  England  coast  to  sell  to  the  Spaniards,  but  the  Indian 
managed  to  reach  England  and  subsequently  returned  to  Massachusetts  where 
he  was  of  much  assistance  to  the  Pilgrim  settlers.  These  are  only  a  few 
instances  of  many  that  might  be  cited.  Some  of  the  Indians  were  taken,  like 
Squanto,  to  be  sold  into  slavery;  some  merely  as  curiosities;  and  some  for 
education  as  future  interpreters.  All,  so  far  as  we  know,  were  taken  against 
their  will,  and  almost  invariably  by  some  cruel  deceit. 


48 


Mentioned  in  chronological  order  they  are:  First,  the  voyage  by 
the  ship  from  Monickendam  which  was  wrecked;  second,  the 
voyage  by  Christiaenssen  when  he  discovered  the  Monickendam 
wreck ;  and  third,  the  subsequent  voyage  under  the  partnership  of 
Christiaenssen  and  Block,  with  Ryser  as  skipper.  Reckoning 
backward,  we  can  fix  the  years  of  these  voyages  pretty  closely. 
Let  us  consider  first  Christiaenssen's  voyage  in  partnership  with 
Block.    Wassenaer  says: 

"  This  aforesaid  Hendrick  Christiaenz,  after  Adriaen  Block 
had  dissolved  partnership  with  him,  made  ten  voyages  thither 
under  a  grant  from  the  Lords  States."    (Earr.  New  Neth.  p.  78.) 

The  first  grant  from  the  States  General  under  which  Christiaens- 
sen sailed  was  the  general  charter  dated  March  27,  1614.  (See 
page  54  following.)  The  names  of  the  skippers  and  partners  who 
sailed  under  that  grant  are  named  in  the  specific  charter  granted 
October  11,  1G14.  (See  page  56  following.)  Upon  examination 
of  the  latter  we  find  that  the  employing  partners  of  the  voyages  in 
1614  were  various  merchants  of  Amsterdam  and  Hoorn;  that 
Block  and  Christiaenssen  were  skippers  in  their  employ ;  and  that 
there  was  no  skipper  named  Ryser  among  them.  By  exclusion, 
therefore,  we  see  that  the  voyage  of  the  skipper  Ryser  in  the  em- 
ployment of  Block  and  Christiaenssen  was  not  one  of  those  made 
in  1614  between  the  dates  of  the  general  charter  in  March,  1614, 
and  the  special  charter  in  October,  1614 ;  and  as  it  was  made  before 
Christiaenssen's  voyages  under  the  grant  of  the  States  General  it 
must  have  been  made  prior  to  1614,  that  is  to  say,  in  1613  at  latest. 

Now,  since  the  Block-Christiaenssen  partnership  voyage  with 
Ryser  as  skipper  was  made  not  later  than  1613,  Christiaenssen's 
previous  voyage,  when  he  saw  the  Monickendam  wreck,  must  have 
been  made  in  1612,  unless  he  made  two  voyages  in  1613,  which 
latter  was  not  likely  at  that  period. 

As  to  the  date  of  the  Monickendam  wreck,  we  have  no  means  of 
judging  whether  it  had  occurred  just  before  Christiaenssen's 
arrival  or  earlier. 

Wassenaer 's  cursory  mention  of  the  Monickendam  vessel,  due 
to  its  unfortunate  fate,  leads  one  to  wonder  how  many  other  voy- 
ages may  have  been  made  about  that  time  by  inquisitive  skippers 
who  returned  in  safety  and  of  whom  we  have  no  record. 


49 


Argall's  Alleged  Visit  to  Manhattan  in  1613 

The  backward  method  of  demonstration  employed  under  the  pre- 
vious heading  necessitated  the  grouping  of  a  number  of  events  in 
the  period  of  1611-13.  But  there  was  one  alleged  event  ascribed 
particularly  to  the  year  1613,  which  requires  separate  considera- 
tion, for  the  reason  that  upon  it  has  been  predicated  the  claim  that 
Manhattan  Island  was  settled  in  that  year  by  the  Dutch ;  that  the 
infant  settlement  at  that  time  dwelt  in  "  four  house3  "  which  were 
situated  at  No.  39  or  No.  41  Broadway ;  and  that  it  was  governed 
by  a  Dutch  Governor. 

The  sole  basis  for  this  claim  is  a  32-page  pamphlet  which  was 
published  in  London  in  1648  and  purported  to  have  been  written 
by  "  Beauchamp  Plantagenet."  It  is  entitled :  "A  Description 
of  the  Province  of  New  Albion,  And  a  Direction  for  Adventurers 
with  small  stock  to  get  two  for  one,  and  good  land  freely:  And 
for  Gentlemen,  and  all  Servants,  Labourers,  and  Artificers,  to 
live  plentifully,"  etc. 

It  is  addressed  "  To  the  Eight  Honourable  and  Mighty  Lord 
Edmund  by  Divine  Providence  Lord  Proprietor,  Earl  Palatine, 
Governour  and  Captain  Generall  of  the  Province  of  New  Albion, 
and  to  the  Right  Honourable  the  Lord  Vicount  Monson  of  Castle- 
main,  the  Lord  Sherard  Baron  of  Letrim:  and  to  all  other 
Vicounts,  Barons,  Baronets,  Knights,  Gentlemen,  Merchants,  Ad- 
venturers, and  Planters  of  the  hopefull  Company  of  New  Albion, 
in  all  44  undertakers  and  subscribers,  bound  by  Indenture  to 
bring  and  settle  3000  able  trained  men  in  our  said  severall  Planta- 
tions in  the  said  Province."    It  is  dated  December  5,  1648. 

The  pamphlet  is  in  the  nature  of  a  prospectus  designed  to  pro- 
mote a  colonizing  scheme.  In  phrases  often  incoherent,  the 
author  indulges  in  some  high-flown  metaphors ;  tells  something 
of  his  alleged  genealogy  and  alleged  travels ;  gives  extravagant 
descriptions  of  conditions  and  affairs  in  New  Albion,  and  at 
length  comes  to  the  following  passage  containing  the  reference  to 
Manhattan  Island: 

"  Then  Virginia  being  granted,  settled,  and  all  that  part  now 
called  Maryland,  New  Albion  and  New  Scotland,  being  part  of 
Virginia,  Sir  Thomas  Dale  and  Sir  Samuel  Argoll,  Captains  and 


50 


Counsellors  of  Virginia,  hearing  of  divers  Aliens  and  Intruders 
and  Traders  without  licence,  with  a  Vessel  and  forty  soldiers 
landed  at  a  place  called  Mount  Desert  in  Nova  Scotia  near  S. 
Iohns  river,  or  Twede,  possest  by  the  French,  there  killed  some 
French,  took  away  their  Guns  and  dismantled  the  Fort,  and  in 
their  return  landed  at  Manhatas  Isle  in  Hudsons  river,  where 
they  found  four  houses  huilt,  and  a  pretended  Dutch  Governour, 
under  the  West  India  Company  of  Amsterdam  share  or  part ;  who 
kept  trading  boats  and  trucking  with  the  Indians ;  but  the  said 
Knights  told  him  their  Commission  was  to  expell  him  and  all 
Aliens  Intruders  on  his  Majesties  Dominion  and  Territories,  this 
being  part  of  Virginia,  and  this  river  an  English  discovery  of 
Hudson  an  Englishman,  the  Dutch  man  contented  them  for  their 
charge  and  voiage,  and  by  his  Letter  sent  to  Virginia  and  re- 
corded, submitted  himself,  Company  and  Plantation  to  his 
Majesty,  and  to  the  Governour  and  government  of  Virginia ;  but 
the  next  pretended  Dutch  Governour  in  Maps  and  printed  Cards, 
calling  this  part  New  Netherland,  failing  in  payment  of  customes, 
at  his  return  to  Plymouth  in  England,  was  there  with  his  Bever 
goods  and  person,  attached  to  his  damage  1500  1.  whereupon  at 
the  suit  of  the  Governour  and  Councell  of  Virginia,  his  now 
Majesty  by  his  Embassadour  in  Holland,  co'plaining  of  the  said 
Aliens  intrusion  on  such  is  Territories  &  Dominions,  the  said 
Lords,  the  States  of  Holland,  by  their  publique  instrument  de- 
clared, That  they  did  not  avow,  nor  would  protect  them,  being  a 
private  party  of  the  Amsterdam  West  India  Company,  but  left 
them  to  his  Majesties  wil  &  mercy:  whereupon  three  severall 
Orders  from  the  Councell  Table,  and  Commissions  having  been 
granted  for  the  expelling  and  removing  from  thence,  of  which  they 
taking  notice,  and  knowing  their  weaknesse  and  want  of  victuals, 
have  offered  to  sell  the  same  for  2500  1.  And  lastly,  taking  ad- 
vantage of  our  present  war  &  distractions,  now  ask  7000  1.  and 
have  lately  offered  many  affronts  &  damages  to  his  Maiestis  sub- 
jects in  New  England:  and  in  srenerall  endanger  all  his  Majesties 
adjoyning  Countries,  most  wickedly,  feloniously  and  traiterously, 
contrary  to  the  Marine  and  Admirall  Laws  of  all  Christians,  sell 
by  whole  sale  guns,  powder,  shot  and  ammunition  to  the  Indians, 
instructing:  them  in  the  use  of  our  fights  and  arms ;  insomuch  as 
2000  Indians  bv  them  armed,  Mohacks,  Raritans,  and  some  of 
Long"  Isle  with  their  own  guns  so  sold  them,  fall  into  war  with  the 
Dutch,  destroyed  all  their  scattering  Farms  and  Boors,  in  forcing 
them  all  to  retire  to  their  Up  fort  40  leagues  up  that  river,  and 
to  Manhatas,  for  all  or  most  retreatiner  to  Manhatas,  it  is  now  a 
pretty  town  of  trade  having  more  English  then  Dutch :  and  it  is 


51 


very  considerable  that  three  years  since  Stuy  their  Governour 
put  out  his  Declaration,  confessing  that  the  neighbour  English 
might  well  be  offended  with  their  selling  Indians  arms  and  am- 
munition, but  being  but  a  few  and  so  scattered,  they  could  not 
live  else  there,  or  trade,  the  Indians  refusing  to  trade  or  suffer 
the  Dutch  to  plow  without  they  would  sell  them  guns." 

It  will  be  noted  that  no  date  is  given  for  the  visit  of  Argall  to 
Manhattan  Island;  but  as  his  excursion  to  Mount  Desert  was 
made  in  1613,  it  is  implied  that  1613  was  the  date  of  his  visit  to 
Manhattan.  All  claims  that  Manhattan  Island  was  settled  in 
1613  and  that  four  houses  built  by  Europeans  were  standing  there 
in  that  year  are  traceable  to  this  pamphlet  and  their  validity 
depends  upon  the  reliability  of  its  assertions. 

At  the  outset,  the  pamphlet  lacks  the  credibility  of  a  reliable 
author,  for  the  writer  either  discredits  himself  by  false  statements 
concerning  his  genealogy  or  else  he  is  hiding  behind  a  pseudonym 
to  escape  responsibility  for  his  loose  statements.  On  February  3, 
1840,  Mr.  John  Pennington  read  before  the  Pennsylvania  His- 
torical Society  a  paper  entitled  "An  Examination  of  Beauchamp 
Plantagenet's  description  of  the  Province  of  New  Albion  "  in 
which  he  points  out  discrepancies  in  Plantagenet's  genealogy,  as- 
suming that  Plantagenet  was  a  real  person.  On  the  other  hand, 
Alexander  Brown,  in  his  "  Genesis  of  the  United  States,"  con- 
cludes that  "  Beauchamp  Plantagenet  "  is  a  pseudonym  covering 
the  authorship  of  Sir  Edmund  Ployden,  the  patentee  of  New 
Albion. 

But  quite  aside  from  the  question  of  authorship,  and  without 
considering  the  numerous  departures  from  truth  in  other  parts  of 
the  pamphlet,  the  passage  already  quoted  supplies  obvious  evi- 
dence of  unreliability. 

In  the  first  place  there  was  no  Dutch  West  India  Company  in 
1613  and  no  Dutch  Governor,  as  alleged  in  the  pamphlet.  This 
allegation  alone  is  sufficient  to  shake  confidence  in  the  accuracy 
of  other  statements,  especially  in  the  significant  absence  of  cor- 
roborative evidence.  In  fact,  there  is  nothing  outside  of  this 
pamphlet  to  support  the  claim  that  Argall  and  Dale  visited  Man- 
hattan in  1613.  The  written  and  recorded  submission  alleged  to 
have  been  made  by  the  Dutch  Governor  in  1613,  of  so  much  im- 


52 


portance  if  a  fact,  has  never  come  to  light.  And  that  no  such  trans- 
action occurred  at  that  time  is  strongly  indicated  in  the  generous 
treatment  afterward  accorded  by  the  States  General  to  Captain 
Dale.  In  1603,  Dale,  an  Englishman,  was  commissioned  Captain 
in  the  Netherlands  army.  In  1611,  the  British  ambassador  at  the 
Hague  requested  that  Dale  be  granted  a  leave  of  absence  in  order 
that  he  might  be  employed  in  Virginia  on  his  Majesty's  service ; 
and  the  petition  was  granted.  (Docs.  Pel.  Col.  Hist.  S.  1ST.  Y.  I, 
1-3.)  Dale  subsequently  became  Governor  of  Virginia.  In 
1618,  he  applied  to  the  States  General  for  pay  during  his  absence 
from  the  Netherlands  and  the  sum  of  £1,000  was  granted  to  him. 
(Brown's  Genesis  of  the  IT.  S.)  If  Dale,  five  years  before,  had 
been  a  party  to  forcing  the  Dutch  occupants  of  Manhattan  to 
surrender  their  claims  thereto,  it  is  highly  improbable  that  the 
States  General  would  have  rewarded  him  so  liberally. 

Another  illustration  of  Plantagenet' s  inaccuracy  may  be  found 
in  his  reference  to  "  Stuy  "  (meaning  Stuyvesant)  in  the  closing 
sentence  of  the  quotation  we  have  given.  He  says  that  "  three 
years  since,  Stuy,  their  Governor,"  confessed  that  the  neighboring 
English  had  good  cause  to  complain  of  the  sale  of  firearms  to  the 
Indians  by  the  Dutch.  As  this  New  Albion  pamphlet  was  dated 
December,  1648,  "  three  years  since  "  would  be  1645,  whereas 
Stuyvesant  did  not  assume  the  government  until  1647. 

We  will  give  one  more  illustration  of  "  Plantagenet's  "  ignor- 
ance of  or  recklessness  with  dates,  and  will  then  offer  testimony 
to  show  that  the  incidents  which  he  coupled  with  Argall's  expedi- 
tion of  1613  may  have  occurred  in  1622. 

In  another  part  of  the  pamphlet,  "  Plantagenet "  refers  to  "  the 
next  river  called  Hudsons  river,  of  the  name  of  Hudson  an  Eng- 
lishman, the  discoverer  thirty-five  years  since,  who  sold  his  dis- 
covery, plots  and  cards  to  the  Dutch."  Thirty-five  years  prior  to. 
the  date  of  the  pamphlet  would  have  been  1613,  instead  of  1609, 
when  Hudson  made  his  voyage.  The  rest  of  the  pamphlet  is  an 
equally  hopeless  jumble. 

While  it  is  not  essential  to  our  present  purposes  to  discover 
what  "  Plantagenet  "  actually  had  in  mind  when  he  wrote  the  pas- 
sage about  Manhattan  Island  before  quoted,  we  may,  as  a  matter 
of  interest,  cite  a  document  which  appears  to  give  us  a  clue. 


53 


Under  date  of  April  2,  16o2,  Capt.  John  Marion  sent  to  Sir 
John  Coke,  English  Secretary  of  State,  a  letter  which  read  in 
part  as  follows  (abbreviations  of  the  original  here  spelled  out)  : 

"  In  ye  year  of  our  Lord  God  1621,  or  thereabouts,  certain  Hol- 
landers were  upon  the  coast  of  New  England  trading  with  ye 
Indians  betwixt  Cape  Cod  and  Bay  de  la  Warre  in  40.  degrees 
of  Northerly  latitude.  .  .  .  And  Sir  Samuell  Argall  Knight 
with  many  English  planters  were  prepareing  to  goe  and  sit  downe 
in  his  lott  of  land  upon  ye  said  Manahata  river  at  the  same  tyme 
when  the  Dutch  intruded,  which  caused  a  Demurre  in  their  pro- 
ceding  until  King  James,  upon  complaint  of  my  Lord  of  Arundell 
with  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges  Knight  and  the  said  Sir  Samuell 
Argall  (formerly  Governor  of  Virginia)  and  Capt  John  Mason) 
of  ye  sayd  Dutch  Intruders  in  Anno  1621  had,  by  his  Majesties 
order  a  letter  to  ye  Lord  of  Dorchester  their  Ambassador  at  ye 
Hague,  questioned  the  States  of  ye  Low  Countries  for  that  mat- 
ter. Which  ye  Lords  ye  States  by  answer  (as  I  take  it)  of  their 
ambassador  Sir  Nowell  Carronne  did  disclayme,  disavowing  any 
such  act  that  was  done  by  their  people  with  their  authority :  which 
my  Lord  of  Arundell  and  I  think  ye  Lord  Baltimore  (then  Secre- 
tary of  State)  doe  remember,  and  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges  and 
Captaine  Mason  can  witness  ye  same.  Nevertheless,  ye  yeare  fol- 
lowing, which  (as  I  take  it)  was  1622,  the  sayd  Dutch,  under  a 
pretended  authority  from  ye  West  India  Company  of  Holland 
maintayned  as  they  sayd  by  commission  from  ye  said  Prince  of 
Aurange,  did  return  to  ye  foresayd  river  of  Manahata  and  made 
plantation  there."    (Docs.  Eel.  Col.  Hist.  S.  N.  Y.  pp.  16-17.) 

In  the  foregoing  letter  we  appear  to  have  a  statement  of  facts 
connected  with  ArgalPs  proposed  colony  at  Manhattan,  occurring 
in  1621  and  1622,  when  the  Dutch  West  India  Company  did 
exist,  and  including  the  statement  by  a  respectable  authority 
concerning  a  Dutch  disclaimer,  which  "  Plantagenet,"  in  his  ill- 
regulated  mind,  connected  with  Argall's  excursion  to  Mount 
Desert  in  1613. 

The  evidence  of  the  unworthiness  of  the  "  Plantagenet  "  pam- 
phlet appears  so  obvious  in  the  light  of  what  we  have  already 
stated  that  it  seems  unnecessary  to  strengthen  the  case  against  it 
by  quoting  Murphy,  Pennington,  and  others.  We  may  add,  how- 
ever, this  single  sentence  from  a  letter  of  Mr.  Victor  H.  Paltsits  of 
New  York,  formerly  State  Historian,  who  has  recently  made  a 
fresh  and  critical  examination  of  the  pamphlet.    He  says: 


o4 


"  I  have  examined  this  tract  critically,  noting  its  general  un- 
worthiness  and  the  impossibility  of  its  assertions  about  Dale  and 
Argall  finding  Dutch  at  Manhattan  and  under  circumstances 
therein  set  forth." 

Chartered  Trading  Begins  in  1614 

While  it  is  apparent  from  the  statements  in  preceding  pages 
that  ships  visited  these  waters  prior  to  1614,  they  were  mere 
private  ventures,  apparently  made  with  a  view  to  ascertaining  the 
commercial  possibilities  of  the  newly  discovered  region.  When 
we  come  to  the  year  1614,  we  find  a  radical  and  important  change 
in  the  character  and  results  of  these  voyages.  In  the  first  place, 
we  are  not  obliged  to  resort  to  deduction  for  our  conclusions.  The 
facts  are  matters  of  documentary  record.  In  the  second  place, 
the  trading  becomes  regularly  chartered.  And  thirdly,  the  results 
are  of  capital  importance. 

The  information  brought  back  from  the  voyages  before  1614, 
including  the  evidences  of  a  very  valuable  trade  in  furs,  led  the 
merchants  of  Amsterdam  and  some  other  ports  to  apply  to  the 
States  General  for  a  charter,  but  before  granting  them  a  specific 
charter,  the  States  General  judiciously  required  them  to  demon- 
strate their  title  to  such  special  privilege.  The  States  General 
therefore  on  March  27,  1614,  issued  the  following  general  charter 
for  discoveries  (Docs.  Eel.  Col.  Hist.  S.  1ST.  Y.  I,  5-6) : 

"  The  States  General  of  the  United  Netherlands.  To  all  those 
who  shall  see  these  presents  or  hear  them  read.  Greeting.  Be  it 
Known,  Whereas  We  understand  it  would  be  honorable,  service- 
able and  profitable  to  this  Country,  and  for  the  promotion  of  its 
prosperity,  as  well  as  for  the  maintenance  of  seafaring  people, 
that  the  good  Inhabitants  should  be  excited  and  encouraged  to 
employ  and  occupy  themselves  in  seeking  out  and  discovering 
Passages,  Havens,  Countries  and  places  that  have  not  before  now 
been  discovered  nor  frequented;  and  being  informed  by  some 
Traders  that  they  intend,  with  God's  merciful  help,  by  diligence, 
labor,  danger  and  expense,  to  employ  themselves  thereat,  as  they 
expect  to  derive  a  handsome  profit  therefrom,  if  it  pleased  Us  to 
privilege,  charter  and  favor  them,  that  they  alone  might  resort  and 
sail  to  and  frequent  the  passages,  havens,  countries  and  places  to 
be  by  them  newly  found  and  discovered,  for  six  voyages  as  a  com- 
pensation for  their  outlays,  trouble  and  risk,  with  interdiction  to 
all,  directly  or  indirectly  to  resort  or  sail  to,  or  frequent  the  said 


55 


passages,  havens,  countries  or  places,  before  and  until  the  first 
discoverers  and  tinders  thereof  shall  have  completed  the  aforesaid 
six  voyages:  Therefore,  We  having  duly  weighed  the  aforesaid 
matter  and  finding,  as  hereinbefore  stated,  the  said  undertaking 
to  be  laudable,  honorable  and  serviceable  for  the  prosperity  of  the 
United  Provinces,  And  wishing  that  the  experiment  be  free  and 
open  to  all  and  every  of  the  Inhabitants  of  this  country,  have 
invited  and  do  hereby  invite,  all  and  every  of  the  Inhabitants  of 
the  United  Netherlands  to  the  aforesaid  search,  and,  therefore, 
have  granted  and  consented,  grant  and  consent  hereby  that  whoso- 
ever any  new  Passages,  Havens,  Countries  or  Places  shall  from 
now  henceforward  discover,  shall  alone  resort  to  the  same  or  cause 
them  to  be  frequented  for  four  voyages,  without  any  other  person 
directly  or  indirectly  sailing,  frequenting  or  resorting,  from  the 
United  Netherlands,  to  the  said  newly  discovered  and  found  pas- 
sages, havens,  countries  or  places,  until  the  first  discoverer  and 
finder  shall  have  made,  or  cause  to  be  made  the  said  four  voyages, 
on  pain  of  confiscation  of  the  goods  and  ships  wherewith  the  con- 
trary attempt  shall  be  made,  and  a  fine  of  Fifty  thousand  Nether- 
lands Ducats,  to  the  profit  of  the  aforesaid  finder  or  discoverer. 
Well  understanding  that  the  discoverer  on  completion  of  the  first 
voyage,  shall  be  holden  within  fourteen  days  after  his  return  from 
said  Voyage,  to  render  unto  Us  a  pertinent  Report  of  the  afore- 
said discoveries  and  adventures,  in  order,  on  hearing  thereof  We 
may  adjudge  and  declare,  according  to  circumstances  and  dis- 
tance, within  what  time  the  aforesaid  four  voyages  must  be  com- 
pleted. Provided  that  We  do  not  understand  to  prejudice  hereby 
or  in  any  way  to  diminish  our  former  Charters  and  Concessions : 
And,  if  one  or  more  Companies  find  and  discover,  in  or  about  one 
time  or  one  year,  such  new  Passages,  Countries,  havens  or  Places, 
the  same  shall  conjointly  enjoy  this  Our  Grant  and  Privilege; 
and  in  case  any  differences  or  questions  concerning  these,  or  other- 
wise should  arise  or  occur  from  this  our  Concession,  the  same  shall 
be  decided  by  Us,  whereby  each  shall  have  to  regulate  himself. 
And  in  order  that  this  Our  Concession  shall  be  made  known 
equally  to  all,  We  have  ordered  that  these  be  published  and 
affixed  at  the  usual  places  in  the  United  Countries.  Thus  done  at 
the  Assembly  of  the  Lords  States  General  at  the  Hague  the 
XXVIIth  of  March  XVP  and  fourteen.  Was  parapheered  —  J. 
van  01denbarneveltvt.  Under  stood  —  By  order  of  the  Lords 
States  General, 

C.  Aerssen." 

Between  the  date  of  the  foregoing  general  charter,  March  27, 
1614,  and  the  date  of  the  next  document  which  we  are  about  to 


56 


quote,  October  11,  1614,  a  company  of  merchants  of  Amsterdam 
and  Hoorn  sent  five  ships,  namely,  the  Little  Fox  (Jan  de  With, 
skipper),  the  Tiger  (Adriaen  Block,  skipper),  the  Fortune  (Hen- 
rick  Corstiaenssen  or  Christiaenssen,  skipper),  the  Nightingale 
(Thys  Volckertssen,  skipper)  and  the  Fortune  (Cornelis  Jacobs- 
sen  May,  skipper),  to  explore  New  Netherland.  The  proof  that 
these  voyages  were  made  between  March  27,  1614,  and  October 
11,  1614,  lies  in  the  charter  which  was  granted  on  the  latter  date 
to  the  owners  of  the  above-named  ships  and  which  is  quoted  here- 
after. The  charter  of  October  11  says  that  it  is  granted  to  the 
owners  of  these  ships  in  pursuance  of  the  general  charter  of 
March,  which  promised  such  a  special  charter  to  "  whosoever 
should  thereafter  discover,"  etc. —  "  thereafter  "  meaning  after 
March  27. 

On  October  11,  1614,  with  reports  of  their  discoveries  and  a 
"  figurative  map  "  explanatory  thereof,  the  deputies  of  the  United 
Company  of  Merchants  appeared  before  the  Assembly  of  the 
States  General  and  applied  for  a  monopoly  of  trade  in  those  parts 
in  accordance  with  the  general  charter  of  March  27.  (Docs.  Kel. 
Col.  Hist.  S.  "N.  Y.  I,  10-11.)  Whereupon  the  monopoly  was 
granted  in  the  following  extremely  important  document : 

"  The  States  General  of  the  United  Netherlands  to  all  to  whom 
these  presents  shall  come,  Greeting.  Whereas  Gerrit  Jacobz 
Witssen,  antient  Burgomaster  of  the  City  Amsterdam,  Jonas 
Witssen,  Simon  Morrissen,  owners  of  the  Ship  named  the  Little 
Fox  whereof  Jan  de  With  has  been  skipper;  Hans  Hongers, 
Paulus  Pelgrom,  Lambrecht  van  Tweenhuyzen,  owners  of  the  two 
ships  named  the  Tiger  and  the  Fortune,  whereof  Aedriaen  Block 
and  Henrick  Corstiaenssen*  were  Skippers ;  Arnolt  van  Lybergen, 

*  Hendrick  Corstiaenssen  above-mentioned  and  Hendrick  Christiaenssen  pre- 
viously mentioned  are  one  and  the  same  person.  Mr.  A.  J.  F.  van  Laer,  New- 
York  State  Archivist,  who  is  an  authority  on  Dutch  names  as  well  as  other 
Dutch  subjects,  says  that  Corstiaen  (also  written  Cors  and  Karstiaen)  is  but 
another  form  for  Christiaen.  With  reference  to  Cornelis  Hendrickssen,  who  is 
mentioned  on  page  62  following  and  who  is  sometimes  confused  with  Hendrick 
Christiaenssen,  Mr.  van  Laer  says  that  Corstiaen  is  not  the  equivalent  of 
Cornelis,  as  is  sometimes  supposed.  "  Cornelis  Hendrickssen  of  Monnickendam 
was  another  man.  He  was  left  in  charge  of  the  ship  Restless  when  Block 
returned  in  the  ship  of  Hendrick  Christiaenssen,  apparently  after  the  death  of 
the  latter  at  the  hands  of  the  savage  Orson.  Muilkerk  suggests  that  Cornelis 
Hendrickssen  was  a  son  of  Hendrick  Christiaenssen.  While  this  is  not  impos- 
sible, it  seems  unlikely  to  me,  as  Christiaenssen  was  from  Cleves  and  Hen- 
drickssen from  Monnickendam." 


57 


Wessel  Schenck,  Hans  Claessen  and  Berent  Sweertssen,  owners 
of  the  Ship  named  the  Nightingale,  whereof  Thys  Volckertssen 
was  Skipper,  Merchants  of  the  aforesaid  City  Amstelredam,  and 
Pieter  Clementssen  Brouwer,  Jan  Clementssen  Kies,  and  Cor- 
nelis  Volckertssen,  Merchants  of  the  City  of  Hoorn,  owners  of  the 
Ship  named  the  Fortuyn,  whereof  Cornelis  Jacobssen  May  was 
Skipper,  all  now  associated  in  one  Company,  have  respectfully 
represented  to  us,  that  they,  the  petitioners,  after  great  expenses 
and  damages  by  loss  of  ships  and  other  dangers,  had,  during  the 
present  year,  discovered  and  found  with  the  above  named  five 
ships,  certain  New  Lands  situate  in  America,  between  New 
France  and  Virginia,  the  Sea  coasts  whereof  lie  between  forty 
and  forty-five  degrees  of  Latitude,  and  now  called  New  Nether- 
land  :  And  whereas  We  did,  in  the  month  of  March  last,  for  the 
promotion  and  increase  of  Commerce,  cause  to  be  published  a 
certain  General  Consent  and  Charter  setting  forth,  that  whoso- 
ever should  thereafter  discover  new  havens,  lands,  places  or  pas- 
sages, might  frequent,  or  cause  to  be  frequented,  for  four  voyages, 
su~h  newly  discovered  and  found  places,  passages,  havens,  or 
lands,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  others  from  visiting  or  frequenting 
the  same  from  the  United  Netherlands,  until  the  said  first  dis- 
coverers and  finders  shall,  themselves,  have  completed  the  said 
four  Voyages,  or  caused  the  same  to  be  done  within  the  time  pre- 
scribejd  for  that  purpose,  under  the  penalties  expressed  in  the  said 
Octroy  &c.  they  request  that  we  would  accord  to  them  due  Act 
of  the  aforesaid  Octroy  in  the  usual  form : 

"  Which  being  considered,  We,  therefore,  in  Our  Assembly 
having  heard  the  pertinent  Report  of  the  Petitioners,  relative  to 
the  discoveries  and  finding  of  the  said  new  Countries  between 
the  above  named  limits  and  degrees,  and  also  of  their  adventures, 
have  consented  and  granted,  and  by  these  presents  do  consent  and 
grant,  to  the  said  Petitioners  now  united  into  one  Company,  that 
they  shall  be  privileged  exclusively  to  frequent  or  cause  to  be 
visited,  the  above  newly  discovered  lands,  situate  in  America  be- 
tween New  France  and  Virginia,  whereof  the  Sea  coasts  lie  be- 
tween the  fortieth  and  forty  fifth  degrees  of  Latitude,  now  named 
New  Netherland,  as  can  be  seen  by  a  Figurative  Map  hereunto 
annexed,  and  that  for  four  Voyages  within  the  term  of  three 
Years,  commencing  the  first  of  January,  Sixteen  hundred  and 
fifteen  next  ensuing,  or  sooner,  without  it  being  permitted  to  any 
other  person  from  the  United  Netherlands,  to  sail  to,  navigate  or 
frequent  the  said  newly  discovered  lands,  havens  or  places,  either 
directly  or  indirectly,  within  the  said  three  Years,  on  pain  of 
Confiscation  of  the  vessel  and  Cargo  wherewith  infraction  hereof 
shall  be  attempted,  and  a  fine  of  Fifty  thousand  Netherland 


58 


ducats  for  the  benefit  of  said  discoverers  or  finders;  provided, 
nevertheless,  that  by  these  presents  We  do  not  intend  to  prejudice 
or  diminish  any  of  our  former  grants  or  Charters ;  And  it  is  also 
Our  intention,  that  if  any  disputes  or  differences  arise  from  these 
Our  Concessions,  they  shall  be  decided  by  Ourselves. 

"  We  therefore  expressly  command  all  Governors,  Justices,  Of- 
ficers, Magistrates  and  inhabitants  of  the  aforesaid  United  Coun- 
tries, that  they  allow  the  said  Company  peaceably  and  quietly  to 
enjoy  the  whole  benefit  of  this  Our  grant  and  consent,  ceasing  all 
contradictions  and  obstacles  to  the  contrary.  For  such  we  have 
found  to  appertain  to  the  public  service.  Given  under  Our  Seal, 
paraph  and  signature  of  our  Secretary  at  the  Hague  the  xith  of 
October  1614." 

Building  of  the  First  Ship  in  1614 

The  reference  to  loss  of  ships  "  in  the  foregoing  charter  is  a 
reminder  of  the  burning  of  Adriaen  Block's  vessel,  the  Tiger,  in 
1614  and  the  building  of  the  Onrust  (Restless)  to  take  its  place. 
As  many  writers  have  stated  that  the  Tiger  was  burned  and  the 
Onrust  was  built  in  1613,  it  is  particularly  to  be  noted  that  the 
Tiger  was  still  in  existence  in  1614.  The  charter  granted  October 
11,  1614,  mentions  by  name  five  ships,  including  "two  ships 
named  the  Tiger  and  the  Fortune,  whereof  Aedriaen  Block  and 
Henrick  Corstiaenssen  were  skippers  "  and  says  that  the  owners 
"  had,  during  the  present  year,  discovered  and  found  with  the 
above-named  five  ships,  certain  new  lands,"  etc. 

Concerning  the  building  of  the  Onrust  in  1614  to  take  the  place 
of  the  Tiger,  De  Laet  gives  the  following  evidence : 

"  We  have  before  stated  how  the  country  there  abounds  in 
timber  suitable  for  ship-building;  it  is  sought  by  our  people  for 
that  purpose  who  have  built  there  several  sloops  and  tolerable 
yachts.  And  particularly-  Captain  Adriaen  Block,  when  his  ship 
was  accidentally  burned  in  the  year  1614,  constructed  there  a< 
yacht  with  a  keel  thirty-eight  feet  long,  forty-four  and  a  half  feet 
from  stem  to  stern,  and  eleven  and  a  half  feet  wide.  In  this 
vessel  he  sailed  through  Hellegat*  into  the  great  bayf  and  ex- 
plored all  the  places  thereabout;  and  continued  therewith  as  far 
as  Cape  Cod,  whence  he  came  home  in  the  ship  of  Hendrick 
Christiaensz,  leaving  the  yacht  on  that  coast  for  further  trading," 
(ISTarr.  ISTew  Neth.  p.  50.) 


*  The  East  Riv*r. 
t  Long  Island  Sound. 


59 


As  it  has  been  stated  by  several  modern  writers  that  the  Tiger 
was  burned  in  1G13  and  that  the  Onrust  was  built  on  Manhattan 
Island,  it  is  particularly  to  be  noted  that  the  date  above  quoted  is 
1614.  The  only  pretext  which  w7e  can  find  for  assuming  1613  as 
the  date  of  the  building  of  the  Eestless  is  the  statement  in  the 
petition  of  Witsen  and  others  on  August  18,  1616,  quoted  in  full 
on  pp.  61-62  following,  to  the  effect  that  they  had  employed  "  dur- 
ing the  space  of  three  years  "  the  small  yacht  called  the  Restless 
which  was  "  built  in  the  country  there."  If  "  three  years  "  meant 
literally  thirty-six  months  prior  to  the  date  of  the  petition,  it 
would  place  the  building  of  the  Onrust  in  August,  1613,  but  in 
view  of  the  fact  that  the  Tiger  was  afloat  in  1614  and  De  Laet's 
explicit  statement  that  the  Onrust  was  built  in  1614,  we  must 
construe  "  three  years  "  to  be  a  general  term  meaning  1614,  1615 
and  1616,  and  thus  refer  the  building  of  the  Onrust  to  1614. 

For  the  claim  that  the  Onrust  was  built  on  Manhattan  Island 
there  is  no  documentary  basis.  De  Laet,  in  the  passage  previously 
quoted,  says  it  was  built  "  there."  As  all  the  preceding  part  of 
the  chapter  containing  this  passage  is  devoted  to  a  description  of 
the  Hudson  River  region,  "  there  "  may  mean  anywhere  in  the 
Hudson  or  neighboring  waters.  Mr.  Paltsits,  who  has  pursued 
this  phase  of  the  subject  with  particular  care,  writes  as  follows: 

"  Working  wholly  from  the  original  sources  of  documents  and 
contemporary  printed  works,  I  claim  that  Block's  Tiger  was 
burned  up  the  Hudson  in  the  vicinity  of  modern  Albany  and  that 
the  Restless  was  built  there." 

The  Onrust  became  a  famous  vessel  and  was  the  means  of  con- 
tributing greatly  to  our  geographical  knowledge.  While  Chris- 
tiaenssen  was  occupied  in  the  Hudson  River,  three  different  ex- 
plorers were  making  explorations  along  different  parts  of  the  coast 
which  had  an  important  bearing  on  the  geographical  knowledge 
and  cartography  of  the  period  —  Block  from  East  River  to  Cape 
Cod,  Smith  from  Cape  Cod  northward,  and  May  from  Montauk 
Point  to  Delaware  Bay. 

De  Laet,  as  quoted  on  page  58  preceding,  speaks  of  the  building 
of  the  Onrust  in  1614  and  Block's  voyage  through  Hellegat  (the 
East  River)  and  the  great  bay  (Long  Tsland  Sound)  as  far  as 


no 

Cape  Cod.  The  implication  of  the  text  is  that  the  voyage  was 
made  in  1614;  and  this  is  borne  out  by  De  Laet's  description  of 
the  Connecticut,  Rhode  Island  and  Massachusetts  coast.  (Narr. 
New  Neth.  39-43.)  First  we  will  quote  from  De  Laet  to  show 
from  whom  he  got  his  information  concerning  those  regions,  and 
then  we  will  quote  him  to  show  the  year. 

"  Hellegat,"  says  De  Laet,  "  as  named  by  our  people,  is  another 
river,  according  to  the  description  of  Captain  Adriaen  Block,  that 
flowed  from  the  great  bay  "  (Long  Island  Sound)  "  into  the  great 
river''  (the  Hudson).  (Narr.  New  Neth.  44.)  Speaking  of  the 
islands  in  the  western  end  of  Long  Island  Sound,  he  says:  "  There 
are  a  number  of  islands,  so  that  Captain  Adriaen  Block  gave  the 
name  Archipelagus  to  the  group."  (Ibid.  44.)  Of  Narragansett 
Bay  he  says :  "  Captain  Adriaen  Block  calls  the  people  who  in- 
habit the  west  side  of  this  bay  Nahicans."  (Ibid.  42.)  The 
"river  or  bay  of  Nassau,"  (Buzzard's  Bay)  says  De  Laet,  "  is 
very  large  and  wide,  and,  according  to  the  description  of  Captain 
Block,  is  full  two  leagues  in  width."  (Ibid.  41.)  Referring  to 
Pye  Bay,  somewhere  on  the  Massachusetts  coast  in  the  vicinity  of 
latitude  42°  30',  and  thought  by  some  to  be  Salem  harbor,  De  Laet 
says :  "  The  distance  from  thence  to  the  longitude  of  the  Lizard, 
according  to  the  observations  and  reckoning  of  Captain  Adriaen 
Block,  is  690  leagues  or  thereabout."    (Ibid.  39.) 

Seeing  now  from  whom  De  Laet  derived  his  information  of  the 
coasts  above  referred  to,  we  are  prepared  to  go  back  to  a  reference 
to  the  Fresh  or  Connecticut  River  which  appears  in  the  midst  of 
those  already  quoted,  and  which  gives  us  the  year.  "  The  natives 
there,"  says  De  Laet,  "  plant  maize  and  in  the  year  1614  they 
had  a  village  resembling  a  fort  for  protection  against  the  attacks 
of  their  enemies."    (Ibid.  43.) 

The  late  General  James  Grant  Wilson,  in  his  Memorial  History 
of  New  York,  referring  to  Brodhead's  Memoir  in  the  New  York 
Historical  Society's  Collection,  second  series,  II,  358,  says  of 
Block: 

"He  does  not  seem  to  have  ever  re-visited  the  regions  which 
he  so  industriously  explored.  He  entered  the  service  of  the 
i  Great  Northern  Company,'  the  Holland  (provincial)  branch  of 


6J 


which  was  chartered  in  1614,  and  which  was  erected  upon  a  na- 
tional basis  in  1622.  In  December,  1624,  he  was  promoted  to 
the  command  of  an  entire  fleet  of  whaling  ships;  but  history 
makes  no  further  mention  of  him." 

The  Figurative  Maps  of  1614 

The  discoveries  by  Christiaenssen  and  Block  resulted  in  two 
remarkable  maps  or  charts,  which  contain  the  first  detailed  infor- 
mation concerning  the  geography  of  New  Xetherland.  These  two 
maps  are  reproduced  in  volume  1  of  "  Documents  Eelating  to  the 
Colonial  History  of  the  State  of  New  York." 

One,  which  we  will  distinguish  as  map  "  A,"  has  a  vertical 
length  of  41  inches  between  borders  and  a  horizontal  width  of 
14%  inches.  The  original  was  found  in  the  Royal  Archives  at 
the  Hague  by  Brodhead  in  1841  with  no  mark  or  memorandum 
by  which  its  date  could  be  ascertained.  It  covers  the  area  from 
north  of  the  beginning  of  the  Hudson  River  to  south  of  Delaware 
Bay,  and  includes  the  Hudson,  Delaware  and  Susquehanna  Rivers. 
It  appears  to  embody  the  results  of  the  explorations  of  Chris- 
tiaenssen and  his  men  in  the  country  adjacent  to  the  Hudson  River 
in  1614  while  his  associate  Block  was  exploring  Long  Island 
Sound.  On  the  copy  of  this  map,  Mr.  Brodhead  wrote  that  it  may 
be  the  one  referred  to  in  the  octroy  of  the  States,  dated  October  11, 
1614,  or  it  may  have  been  presented  by  Captain  Hendrickssen 
when  he  made  his  written  report  in  August,  1616. 

The  other  map,  which  we  will  call  "  B,"  has  a  vertical  length 
of  25  inches  between  borders  and  a  horizontal  width  of  17  inches. 
It  represents  the  coast  and  country  from  Virginia  to  the  St.  Law- 
rence River,  but  with  the  greatest  detail  between  the  40th  and 
45th  parallels  of  latitude,  called  "  Men  Nederlandt."  This  map 
was  found  by  Mr.  Brodhead  in  the  Royal  Archives  in  the  Hague 
in  1841,  attached  to  the  following  petition  which  was  read  to  the 
States  General  on  August  18,  1616  (Docs.  Rel.  Col.  Hist.  S.  K  Y. 
I,  13)  : 

"  To  the  High  and  Mighty  Lords,  the  Lords  States  General  &c. 

Respectfully  represent  Gerrit  Jacob  Witsen  Burgomaster  at 
Amsterdam,  Jonas  Witsen,  Lambrecht  van  Tweenhuyzen,  Paulus 


62 


Pelgrom  cum  sociis,  Directors  of  New  Netherland,  extending 
from  40  to  45  degrees,  situate  in  America  between  New  France 
and  Virginia,  that  they  have,  at  great  and  excessive  expense,  dis- 
covered and  found  a  certain  country,  bay  and  three  rivers  situate 
in  the  Latitude  of  from  38  to  40  degrees,  (as  is  more  fully  to  be 
seen  by  the  Figurative  Map  hereunto  annexed)  in  a  small  Yacht 
of  about  eight  Lasts  burthen,  called  the  Restless,  whereof  Cornells 
Hendricksz11  of  Munnickendam  is  Skipper  —  Which  little  yacht 
they,  the  Petitioners,  caused  to  be  built  in  the  country  there,  and 
employed  the  aforesaid  Cornelia  Hendricksz11  in  the  aforesaid 
Countries  during  the  space  of  three  years,  in  the  above  mentioned 
little  Yacht,  looking  for  new  countries,  havens,  bays  and  rivers. 
And  Whereas  Your  High  and  Mighty  Lordships  did  in  March, 
1614,  publish  by  Placard,  that  whosoever  should  discover  any  new 
countries,  bays  or  rivers,  the  said  finders  and  discoverers  should 
enjoy  for  their  discovery,  the  grants  to  trade  and  traffic  exclus- 
ively for  four  Voyages  to  the  aforesaid  countries,  on  condition  of 
making  a  Report  thereof  to  Your  High  Mightinesses;  Therefore 
your  Petitioners  turn  to  Your  High  Mightinesses,  respectfully 
praying  and  requesting  that  You,  High  and  Mighty  Lords,  may 
be  pleased  to  hear  the  aforesaid  Cornells  Hendrickxzen's  Report, 
and  to  examine  the  aforesaid  Map  and  Discovery,  and  to  grant 
the  Petitioners  accordingly  Charter  of  the  exclusive  trade  to  the 
aforesaid  Countries,  for  the  term  of  four  years,  according  to  the 
accompanying  Placard  (of  the  27th  March  1614.) 
Which  doing  etc. 

(Endorsed)  Petition  of  Gerrit  Jacob  Witsen,  Burgomaster  at 
Amsterdam,  Jonas  Witsen,  Lambrecht  van  Tween- 
huyzen,  Paulus  Pelgrom  cum  sociis,  Directors  of 
New  Netherland,  etc.  1616." 

It  is  not  apparent  why  these  petitioners  should  apply  in  1616 
for  an  exclusive  trading  charter  for  four  years,  while  they  were 
still  enjoying  with  others  this  monopoly  under  the  charter  of 
October  11,  1614,  running  for  three  years  from  January  1,  1615 ; 
unless  it  was  with  a  view  to  trading  in  another  part  of  New 
Netherland  on  the  basis  of  Cornells  Hendrickssen's  later  report. 
But  this  does  not  concern  us  so  much  as  the  "  Figurative  Map 
hereunto  annexed,"  namely,  the  one  we  have  distinguished  as 
map  "  B." 


63 


Although  attached  to  a  petition  dated  1616,  the  map  itself 
seems  to  be  attributable  to  1614. 

The  strongest  indication  of  the  date  of  this  map  is  the  fact  that 
it  does  not  contain  any  evidence  of  geographical  knowledge 
acquired  after  1614.  From  the  Hudson  River  westward  it  is 
substantially  based  on  map  "A"  with  which  it  appears  to  be  con- 
temporaneous. The  note  at  the  head  of  the  Hudson  River  to  the 
effect  that  "  as  well  as  one  can  understand  from  the  words  and 
signs  of  the  Mohawks  the  French  come  with  sloops  as  high  up  as 
to  their  country  to  trade  with  them  "  is  such  as  would  be  put  on 
the  first  map  drawn  after  the  information  was  obtained,  and  we 
know  that  Christiaenssen  explored  the  river  in  1614.  Opposite 
the  site  of  Albany  is  the  name  "  Fort  van  jSTassou  "  (an  old  spell- 
ing of  Nassau),  with  the  dimensions  of  the  fort  (see  page  65  fol- 
lowing), and  De  Laet,  in  describing  the  fort,  the  width  of  the 
ditch  and  the  number  of  guns  mounted  (page  64  following)  says 
the  fort  was  built  in  1614.  The  dimensions  of  the  fort  are  details 
which  might  naturally  be  put  on  the  first  map  presented  after  it 
was  built  but  which  would  not  be  likely  to  be  repeated  on  later 
maps,  and  again  suggest  that  the  map  is  one  of  1614.  The  details 
of  the  coast  from  the  mouth  of  the  Hudson  to  Cape  Cod  we  know 
were  learned  by  Block  in  1614. 

De  Laet  says  that  Block  sailed  from  Cape  Cod  for  home.  (Page 
58  preceding.)  The  names  from  "  de  Vlackehoeck  "  (Cape  Cod) 
northward  to  "  de  Gebrokenhoeck "  are  therefore  taken  from 
May's  voyage  in  1611-12,  and  are  mentioned  in  May's  journal. 
This  portion  of  the  map  shows  no  effect  of  Captain  Smith's  map, 
made  in  1614  and  published  in  1616.  The  source  of  the  seven 
names  from  "  Graef  Willem's  Bay  "  to  "  Reiger's  Eylant "  does 
not  appear  —  they  are  not  mentioned  in  May's  journal  — but  the 
Maine  coast  had  been  coursed  frequently  before  1614.  No  simi- 
larity can  be  detected  between  the  delineation  of  Lake  Champlain 
and  the  St.  Lawrence  in  map  "  B  "  and  their  delineation  in  Cham- 
plain's  maps  of  1612  and  1613,  but  it  is  certain  that  map  "  B  " 
contributes  nothing  about  that  region  that  was  not  known  in  1614. 
These  facts  conduce  strongly  to  the  conclusion  that  the  map  was 
drawn  in  1614,  or  if  drawn  later,  represents  the  draftsman's  geo- 
graphical knowledge  as  of  the  year  1614. 


64 


Mr.  JBrodhead,  who  discovered  the  maps  came  to  the  same  con- 
clusion, and  some  years  later,  in  his  History  of  the  State  of  New- 
York,  wrote: 

"  I  think,  however,  that  it  was  actually  prepared  two  years 
before,  from  data  furnished  by  Block  immediately  after  his  re- 
turn to  Holland,  and  that  it  was  exhibited  to  their  High  Mighti- 
nesses for  the  first  time  on  the  11th  of  October,  1614.  The 
Charter  granted  on  that  day  to  the  Directors  of  New  Netherland 
expressly  refers  to  a  '  Figurative  map  prepared  by  them  '  which 
described  the  seacoasts  between  the  40th  and  45th  degrees  of 
latitude.  This  the  parchment  map  clearly  does.  It  moreover 
defines  New  Netherland  as  lying  between  New  France  and  Vir- 
ginia according  to  the  description  in  the  Charter.  The  map  was 
probably  presented  a  second  time  on  the  18th  of  August,  1616, 
when  the  Directors  of  New  Netherland  exhibited  their  memorial 
for  a  further  Charter,  to  which  it  was  attached." 

The  Building  of  Fort  Nassau  in  1614 

The  white  men  had  so  often  abused  the  confidence  of  the  red 
men  in  their  first  contact  that  while  the  Dutch  were  cultivating 
friendly  relations  with  the  Indians  it  was  not  safe  for  the 
Europeans  to  dwell  on  shore  without  protection.  Christiaenssen 
therefore  built  at  the  site  of  Albany  a  rude  fort  within  which 
those  of  his  crew  who  camped  ashore  might  rest  in  tolerable 
security  or  even  spend  the  winter. 

De  Laet,  describing  the  various  reaches  of  the  Hudson  River 
as  far  north  as  Albany,  refers  to  the  building  of  Fort  Nassau 
(later  Orange)  at  that  point  on  Castle  Island  as  follows: 

"  The  fort  was  built  here  in  the  year  1614  upon  an  island  on 
the  west  side  of  the  river  where  a  nation  of  savages  dwells  called 
the  Mackwaes.  .  .  .  The  fort  was  built  in  the  form  of  a  re- 
doubt, surrounded  by  a  moat  eighteen  feet  wide ;  it  was  mounted 
with  two  pieces  of  cannon  and  eleven  pedereros,  and  the  garrison 
consisted  of  ten  or  twelve  men.  Henderick  Christiaenz,  first 
commanded  here  and  in  his  absence  Jaques  Elckens,  on  behalf  of 
the  company  which  in  1614  received  authority  from  their  High 
Mightinesses  the  States  General.  This  fort  was  constantly  occu- 
pied for  three  years  after  which  it  partly  went  into  decay." 
(Narr.  New  Neth.  47.) 

On  the  "  Carte  Figurative  "  which  we  have  distinguished  as 
"A"  on  page  61  preceding,  the  single  word  "  Nassou  "  appears 


65 


at  the  site  of  Albany.  On  the  "  Carte  Figurative  "  B,  the  site  is 
marked  with  a  description  in  Dutch  -which,  translated,  says : 
"  Fort  of  Nassou.  Within  the  walls  is  58  feet  wide.  The  moat 
is  18  feet  wide.  The  house  inside  the  fort  is  36  feet  long  and  26 
wide." 

The  erection  of  Fort  Nassau  in  1614,  before  October  11,  is 
indicated  in  a  "  Report  and  advice  on  the  condition  of  New 
Netherland,  drawn  up  from  documents  and  papers  placed  by  com- 
mission of  the  Assembly  of  XIX,  dated  15th  Deer.  1644,  in  the 
hands  of  the  General  Board  of  Accounts  to  examine  the  same,  to 
make  a  digest  thereof,  and  to  advise  the  Assembly  how  the  decay 
there  can  be  prevented,  population  increased,  agriculture  advanced, 
and  that  country  wholly  improved  for  the  Company's  benefits." 
The  report  begins  as  follows : 

"  New  Netherland  extending  from  the  South  river,  lying  in 
341/o  degrees,  to  Cape  Malabar  in  the  latitude  of  41%  degrees, 
was  first  frequented  by  the  inhabitants  of  this  country  in  the  year 
1598,  and  especially  by  those  of  the  Greenland  Company,  but 
without  making  any  fixed  settlements,  only  as  a  shelter  in  the 
winter.  For  which  purpose  they  erected  on  the  North  and  South 
river  there  two  little  forts  against  the  incursions  of  the  Indians. 
A  charter  was  afterwards  on  the  11th  October,  1614,  granted  by 
their  High  Mightinesses,"  etc.  (Docs.  Rel.  Col.  Hist.  S.  N.  Y. 
vol.  1,  Pri49.) 

While  the  foregoing  authorities  seem  to  indicate  the  building 
of  Fort  Nassau  in  1614,  it  must  be  admitted  that  there  is  also 
evidence  to  indicate  either  that  the  year  was  1615  or  that  in  1615 
a  better  fort  was  built ;  for  De  Laet,  already  quoted  as  giving  the 
date  1614,  also  says  in  his  edition  of  1625  : 

"  Whereupon,  in  the  year  1615,  a  redoubt  or  small  fort  was 
erected  up  the  said  river  and  occupied  by  a  small  garrison,  of 
which  we  shall  hereafter  speak.  Our  countrymen  have  continued 
to  make  voyages  thither  each  year." 

And  in  a  memoir  concerning  English  encroachments  on  New 
Netherland,  dated  January  2,  1656,  it  is  stated: 

"  In  the  year  1610  some  merchants  again  sent  a  ship  thither 
from  this  country  and  obtained  afterwards  from  the  High  and 


66 


Mighty  Lords  States  General  a  grant  to  resort  and  trade  exclus- 
ively to  those  parts,  to  which  end  they  likewise,  in  the  year  1615, 
built  on  the  North  river,  about  the  Manhattans,  a  redoubt  or  little 
fort,  wherein  was  left  a  small  garrison,  some  people  usually  re- 
maining there  to  carrv  on  trade  with  the  natives  or  Indians." 
(Docs.  Eel.  Col.  Hist.  S.  N.  Y.  I,  564.) 

That  the  words  "  about  the  Manhattans "  do  not  necessarily 
mean  on  Manhattan  Island  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  the 
expression  "  at  the  Manhattans  "  was  frequently  used  to  designate 
the  Hudson  River  region  generally;  and  also  from  the  fact  that 
there  is  no  indication  of  a  fort  on  Manhattan  Island  on  the  two 
Cartes  Figurative. 

The  preponderance  of  evidence  concerning  the  date  of  the  erec- 
tion of  the  first  fort  appears  to  be  in  favor  of  1614;  for  De  Laet, 
when  he  mentions  1614,  gives  particulars  concerning  the  width 
of  the  moat  and  the  number  of  cannon,  showing  that  when  he 
wrote  "1614"  he  was  guided  by  precise  information;  and  the 
"  Report  and  advice  on  the  condition  of  New  Netherland  "  ex- 
pressly says  that  the  forts  on  the  Hudson  and  Delaware  Rivers 
were  erected  before  the  granting  of  the  charter  of  October  11, 
1614.  This  also  harmonizes  with  the  facts  which  go  to  show  that 
the  Carte  Figurative  "  B  "  was  drawn  in  1614. 

Fort  Nassau  was  occupied  for  three  years.  Wassenaer,  speak- 
ing of  the  floods  pouring  into  the  upper  Hudson,  refers  to  "  great 
quantities  of  water  running  to  the  river,  overflowing  the  adjoining 
country,  which  was  the  cause  that  Fort  Nassau  frequently  lay 
under  water  and  was  abandoned." 

Significance  of  the  Year  1614 

From  the  foregoing  we  see  that  the  year  1614  is  a  red-letter 
year  in  the  history  of  the  State  of  New  York ;  for  it  was  the  year 
in  which  the  duly  chartered  commerce  of  the  Hudson  River  began ; 
the  year  in  which  the  first  ship  was  built  in  these  waters ;  the  year 
in  which  the  first  fort  was  built  by  the  Dutch  traders  in  the  Hud- 
son valley,  and  the  year  which  produced  the  first  definite  carto- 
graphical knowledge  of  New  Netherland.  The  significance  of 
this  year  is  well  expressed  by  Professor  Henry  Phelps  Johnston, 
Professor  of  History  in  the  College  of  the  City  of  New  York,  in 


67 


a  letter  to  the  writer  of  this  paper,  dated  January  6,  1913,  from 
which  we  quote  the  following : 

"  That  New  York  City  —  New  Amsterdam  —  was  first  settled 
in  1626  is  sufficiently  well  established,  and  a  tercentenary 
celebration  for  this  place  will  be  appropriate  in  1926.  The 
same  for  Albany  in  1924,  the  dates  being  given  as  correct  or 
approximate.    .    .  . 

"  New  York,  however,  need  not  wait  until  1926.  We  may  ac- 
cept a  year  for  commemoration  which  the  Dutch  themselves  of 
that  day  regarded  as  the  year  of  substantial  beginnings,  a  year 
well  known  to  readers  and  authors  of  New  York  histories  —  the 
year  1614.  It  is  only  necessary  to  be  reminded  that  in  that  year 
the  Dutch,  following  up  Hudson's  discovery,  established  a  right- 
ful claim,  in  their  view,  to  a  definite  portion  of  this  coast ;  that  in 
the  same  year  to  this  region  they  gave  the  name  '  New  Nether- 
land  ' ;  that  they  presented  a  chart  of  it,  laying  out  quite  clearly 
the  shore  lines  in  this  vicinity,  distinguishing  Manhattan  for  the 
first  time  as  an  island,  identifying  it  by  name  and  indicating 
such  points  as  Sandy  Hook  and  Hellgate  by  name ;  also  showing 
that  they  had  exploited  New  York  harbor,  the  East  River,  the 
Brooklyn  front  and  Long  Island,  as  well  as  the  adjoining  New 
Jersey  and  Connecticut  lines,  and  the  islands  in  the  bay,  all  evi- 
dently for  the  purposes  of  navigation  and  further  enterprise ;  that 
in  this  year  for  the  first  time  the  States  General  of  Holland 
officially  recognized  New  Netherland  as  a  new  region  for  Hol- 
landers to  explore  and  utilize ;  that  in  this  year  thirteen  merchants 
of  Amsterdam  and  Hoorn,  known  by  name,  owning  five  ships, 
which  with  their  skippers  are  also  named,  were  combined  as  the 
'  United  New  Netherland  Company  '  and  received  from  the  States 
General  a  charter  granting  them  exclusive  trade  with  their  new 
American  possessions  for  three  years;  that  the  trade  they  opened 
was  followed  up  by  them  and  others  continuously;  and  that  in 
that  same  year  the  first  authorized  proposal  was  made  for  the 
organization  of  the  later  '  West  India  Company  '  which  there- 
after controlled  New  Netherland  and  which  grew  and  enlarged 
upon  the  experience  and  foundation  of  its  predecessor  and  the 
pioneers  of  the  time.  On  four  subsequent  occasions,  in  disputes 
with  England  and  English  settlers,  this  charter  of  1614  was  of- 
ficially cited  as  the  earliest  document  on  which  the  Dutch  based 
their  claims  to  this  region. 

"As  an  undisputed  date,  1614  may  be  said  to  mark  '  the  coming 
of  the  Dutch,'  the  year  they  came  to  stay  in  their  own  accustomed 
way,  whether  as  exploiters,  traders  or  occupiers.  Within  the  next 
six  years  they  accomplished  one  important  result  —  a  great  one 


68 


in  the  history  of  this  City;  they  had  established  the  bay  and 
mouth  of  the  Hudson  as  a  new  trading  destination  in  the  new 
world.  Wherever  their  ships  might  continue  on  their  voyages, 
whether  up  the  Hudson  to  Fort  Orange,  or  up  and  down  the 
coast,  '  the  mouth  of  the  Mauritius,'  Manhattan  Harbor,  was 
clearly  a  trader's  center  or  resort,  a  kind  of  '  port  of  entry,'  a 
known  anchorage  where  shippers  could  overhaul  and  repair  and 
whence  they  could  hunt  out  points  of  exchange  among  the  natives. 

"  We  have  here  the  beginnings  of  commercial  New  York  — 
the  opening  up  of  its  bays  and  waters  with  their  unrivalled  ad- 
vantages to  a  mercantile  marine.  From  1614  to  the  present  time, 
for  three  hundred  years,  the  trade  of  this  region,  whether  in 
Dutch,  English  or  American  hands,  has  been  continuous  —  as  con- 
tinuous in  its  infant  years,  from  1614  to  1626,  as  any  distant 
trade  of  that  period  could  be  —  as  continuous  as  that  with  Vir- 
ginia or  Brazil,  or,  on  the  part  of  England  and  Holland,  with 
their  then  recently  established  trading  posts  in  the  East  Indies. 

"  The  source  of  the  wealth  and  greatness  of  New  York  is  her 
harbor.  The  earliest  utilization  is  a  primary  fact  in  her  history. 
The  settlement  of  the  City  itself  was  a  second  step.  The  harbor 
was  the  making  of  the  City.  The  year  1626  should  be  associated 
with  the  year  1614  and  the  years  intervening.  We  must  celebrate 
1626,  but  let  us  also  in  some  appropriate  way  celebrate  1614  in 
1914.  It  might  be  made  conspicuously  a  commercial  and  indus- 
trial commemoration." 

Commerce  Continued  Until  Permanent  Settlement  is  Effected 

We  have  previously  stated  that  Block  does  not  appear  to  have 
returned  to  New  Netherland  after  his  explorations  in  1614;  but 
the  petition  of  August,  1616,  before  quoted,  indicates  that  Chris- 
tiaenssen  used  the  Onrust  in  1615  and  1616  in  these  parts,  and 
Wassenaer  makes  the  following  reference  to  more  voyages : 

"  This  aforesaid  Hendrick  Christiaenz,  after  Adriaen  Block 
had  dissolved  partnership  with  him,  made  ten  voyages  thither, 
under  a  grant  from  the  Lords  States  who  granted  him  that  privi- 
lege for  the  first  opening  up  of  the  place.  On  the  expiration  of 
that  privilege,  this  country  was  granted  to  the  West  India  Com- 
pany, to  draw  their  profits  thence." 

The  formation  of  the  Dutch  West  India  Company,  in  1621,  was 
a  project  which  had  been  considered  for  the  past  seven  years.  On 
July  18,  1614,  the  provinces  of  Holland  and  West  Friesland 
adopted  a  memorial  to  the  General  Assembly  of  the  States  suggest- 


69 


iiig  "  the  formation  of  a  general  Company  for  the  promotion  of 
Commerce,  Navigation  and  Interest  of  the  Country,  to  carry  on 
Trade  on  some  Coasts  of  Africa  and  America."  (Docs.  Rel.  Col. 
Hist.  S.  N.  Y.  I,  6.)  On  August  25,  1614,  the  States  General 
"  Resolved,  That  the  business  of  forming  a  General  West  India 
Company  shall  be  undertaken  to-morrow  morning."  (Ibid.  p.  7.) 
And  on  September  2,  1614,  they  k'  Resolved,  That  the  affair  of 
the  West  India  Company  shall  be  continued  this  afternoon." 
(Ibid.  p.  7.)  The  project  had  in  view  trade  to  the  West  Indies, 
Africa  and  Guinea;  but  it  encountered  so  many  objections  from 
the  East  India  Company,  that  its  consummation  was  deferred, 
and  it  was  not  until  June  3,  1621,  that  the  company  was  actually 
chartered.  Thus  the  continuity  of  the  commerce  was  maintained 
until  a  permanent  settlement  was  effected  in  1624. 

What  Constitutes  "  Settlement?  " 

This  brings  us  to  the  consideration  of  the  question,  what  con- 
stitutes the  "  settlement  "  of  a  country.  If  we  are  to  take  a  broad 
and  sweeping  view  of  the  whole  history  of  the  region  from  Hud- 
son's voyage  to  the  present  time,  we  might,  perhaps,  regard  the 
settlement  to  have  begun  with  the  first  coming  of  the  Europeans, 
whether  they  actually  remained  continuously  or  whether  they 
came  and  departed  annually  for  a  period  of  time.  The  best  au- 
thorities, however,  seem  to  regard  such  a  use  of  the  word  "  settle- 
ment "  as  loose  and  inexact.  The  Century  Dictionary,  reflecting 
the  best  use  of  the  word  by  historians,  clearly  conveys  the  idea 
of  permanence  or  continuance  in  its  definitions  of  "  settlement." 
The  first  definition  of  the  verb  "  settle,"  in  its  transitive  use,  is : 

"  To  place  in  a  fixed  or  permanent  position  or  condition ;  con- 
firm ;  establish,  as  for  residence  or  business." 

More  specifically,  it  says : 

"  To  plant  with  inhabitants;  colonize;  people,  as,  the  Puritans 
settled  New  England." 

Used  intransitively  we  have  these  definitions ; 

"  To  become  set  or  fixed ;  assume  a  continuing,  abiding  or  last- 
ing position,  form,  or  condition,"  etc. 

"  To  establish  a  residence,  take  up  permanent  habitation  or 
abode." 


70 


In  all  such  uses  as  to  "  settle  "  a  question,  or  "  settle  "  a  date,  or 
"  settle  "  an  account  or  a  case  in  court,  runs  the  idea  of  a  per- 
manent and  continuing  condition. 

Visiting  and  trading  in  a  country  cannot  be  regarded  as  the 
settlement  of  that  country  unless  there  is  permanent  occupation. 
The  annual  visits  of  French  fishermen  to  the  banks  of  Newfound- 
land and  their  temporary  stays  in  harbors  of  refuge  did  not  con- 
stitute the  settlement  of  Newfoundland.  The  series  of  voyages 
under  the  auspices  of  Raleigh,  beginning  in  1584,  the  short-lived 
Ralph  Lane  colony  landed  on  Roanoke  Island  in  1585,  the  evanes- 
cent John  White  colony  landed  there  in  1587,  and  the  other  visits 
during  the  next  few  years  to  the  region  within  the  limits  of  ancient 
Virginia  did  not  constitute  the  settlement  of  Virginia.  The  settle- 
ment of  Virginia,  by  common  consent,  was  the  permanent  settle- 
ment of  Jamestown  in  1607,  and  was  recognized  as  such  in  the 
Jamestown  Tercentenary  celebration  in  1907.  New  England  was 
the  objective  point  of  repeated  voyages  and  a  few  attempts  at 
settlement  before  1620  —  in  1602  Gosnold  visited  Cape  Cod  and 
built  some  huts,  it  is  said,  on  Cuttyhunk;  Weymouth  visited  Cape 
Cod  and  Maine  in  1605;  in  1607  the  transitory  Popham  colony 
landed  on  the  Maine  coast ;  Jan  Cornelisz.  May  spent  the  winter 
of  1611-12  on  the  New  England  coast,  down  as  far  as  Cape  Cod; 
in  1614  Capt.  John  Smith  visited  New  England  and  on  his  map 
even  gave  the  name  of  Plymouth  to  the  neighborhood  afterward 
settled  by  the  Pilgrims  —  but  these  did  not  constitute  the  settle- 
ment of  New  England  as  the  word  settlement  is  understood. 
"  The  Puritans  settled  New  England  " —  to  repeat  the  quotation 
from  the  Century  Dictionary,  when  the  Pilgrims  planted  at  Ply- 
mouth in  1620 ;  and  unless  it  can  be  demonstrated  that  there  was 
the  beginning  of  continuous  occupation  of  New  Netherland,  at 
Manhattan  Island  or  at  the  site  of  Albany  or  elsewhere,  during  the 
years  we  have  been  considering,  it  cannot  be  said  that  New  Nether- 
land was  yet  "  settled." 

Upon  this  point  Mr.  James  A.  Holden,  State  Historian,  has 
expressed  to  the  present  writer  his  views  upon  the  interpretation 
of  the  word  "  settlement "  which  may  be  summarized  as  follows : 

"  If  this  means  the  date  when  the  first  white  man  came  to  Man- 
hattan Island  after  the  discovery  of  the  river  by  Hudson,  1610 


71 


would  be  nearer-  the  mark.  If  it  means  the  first  settlement  by 
fur-traders  and  barterers,  1014  would  be  the  proper  date.  But 
if  the  word  '  settlement '  is  to  be  understood  as  I  should  take  it, 
as  something  permanent  and  not  temporary,  then  we  must  con- 
sider that  the  proper  date  is  1624.  It  was  in  1626  that  the  Island 
of  Manhattan  was  formally  deeded  to  the  Dutch  by  the  Indians." 

That  no  colony  had  been  planted  in  New  Netherland  up  to  1622 
is  apparent  from  a  letter  written  under  date  of  the  Hague,  Feb- 
ruary 5,  1621,  0.  S.  (1622  X.  S.),  by  Sir  Dudley  Carleton,  Eng- 
lish ambassador  to  the  Netherlands,  to  the  Lords  of  the  Council, 
in  reply  to  an  inquiry  from  the  latter,  dated  December  15,  1621. 
Sir  Dudley  wrote  that  he  had  made  diligent  inquiry  of  the  Prince 
of  Orange,  some  of  the  States  and  various  merchants,  and  could 
not  learn  that  the  Hollanders  had  planted  any  colony  in  New 
Netherland.  All  he  could  learn  was  that  the  Hollanders  had  been 
trading  there  for  several  years  and  had  several  factors  there  resi- 
dent among  the  savages  trading  with  them ;  and  that .  there  was  a 
ship  at  Amsterdam  bound  for  those  parts: 

"  I  cannot  learne  of  anie  Colonic  eyther  already  planted  there 
by  these  people  or  so  much  as  intended ;  and  I  have  this  further 
reason  to  believe  there  is  none,  because  within  these  few  months 
divers  inhabitants  of  this  country  to  a  considerable  number  of 
familyes  have  been  suters  unto  me  to  procure  them  a  place  of 
habitation  amongst  his  Majesties  subjects  in  those  parts."  (Docs. 
Eel.  Col.  Hist.  S.  N.  Y.  Ill,  7.) 

Sir  Dudley  apparently  refers  to  the  fact  that  in  February,  1622, 
fifty  or  sixty  families  of  Walloons  and  French  residing  in  the 
Netherlands  applied  to  the  King  of  Great  Britain  for  permission 
to  settle  in  Virginia  and  with  the  consent  of  the  Virginia  com- 
pany the  petition  was  granted  on  certain  conditions.  (Docs.  Eel. 
Col.  Hist.  S.  N.  Y.  Ill,  9-10.) 

Permanent  Settlement  of  Fort  Orange  in  1624 

A  decade  of  commerce  prepared  the  way  for  the  planting  of 
the  first  permanent  colony  in  New  Netherland  at  the  site  of 
Albany  in  1624,  and  another  on  Manhattan  Island  in  1626.  This 
culmination  of  events  was  so  important,  and  so  much  attention 
will  be  attracted  to  it  by  the  Commercial  Tercentenary  anniver- 
sary, that  it  is  desirable  to  review  the  evidence  concerning  these 
dates. 


72 


It  may  be  taken  as  a  general  principle  of  historical  interpreta- 
tion, that,  other  things  being  equal,  the  reliability  of  testimony 
varies  proportionately  with  the  distance  of  the  testimony  from  the 
event  in  point  of  time.  We  shall  cite,  therefore,  in  support  of 
the  date  1624  for  the  settlement  of  Fort  Orange,  Wassenaer's 
"  Historisch  Verhael  "  printed  in  that  year. 

Fully  to  understand  the  significance  of  Wassenaer's  dates,  it 
should  be  explained  that  the  Verhael  was  printed  in  semi-annual 
parts.  Thus,  in  the  original  Dutch,  the  months  of  October,  1623, 
to  March,  1624,  both  inclusive,  are  covered  by  156  pages,  with  a 
preface  dated  June  1,  1624.  The  months  of  April,  1625,  to  Sep- 
tember, 1624,  inclusive,  are  covered  with  157  pages  with  a  preface 
dated  December  1,  1624.  The  general  chronology  of  the  text  is 
indicated  by  the  years  printed  in  the  top  margin. 

Wassenaer,  in  the  part  prefaced  under  date  of  December  1, 
1624,  says  of  a  privateer  named  the  Maeckereel: 

"  The  yacht  Maeckereel  sailed  out  last  year  on  the  16th  of 
June  and  arrived  yonder  on  the  12th  of  December.  It  was  in- 
deed somewhat  late,  but  it  wasted  time  in  the  savage  islands,  to 
catch  a  fish,  and  did  not  catch  it,  so  ran  the  luck.  The  worthy 
Daniel  van  Krieckebeeck,  for  brevity  called  Beeck,  was  super- 
cargo on  it  and  so  did  his  duty  that  he  was  thanked."  (Narr. 
New  Neth.  76.) 

In  the  foregoing  quotation,  "  out "  means  from  Netherlands ; 
"  yonder  "  means  to  New  Netherland ;  "  to  catch  a  fish  "  means  to 
catch  a  Spanish  prize;  and  "  last  year"  clearly  means  1623,  for 
Wassenaer  certainly  could  not  have  known  on  December  1,  1624, 
of  the  arrival  of  a  ship  in  the  Hudson  Eiver  on  December  12, 
1624. 

It  being  clear  that  the  Maeckereel  arrived  in  December,  1623, 
we  now  proceed  to  show  how  that  proves  the  date  of  the  arrival 
of  the  first  Colony  in  1624. 

Wassenaer,  in  the  same  part  prefaced  December  1,  1624  — 
embodying  information  received  after  the  publication  of  his  pre- 
vious part,  prefaced  June  1,  1624  —  says: 

"  The  West  India  Company  being  chartered  to  navigate  these 
rivers,  did  not  neglect  to  do  so,  but  equipped  in  the  spring  a  ves- 
sel of  130  lasts  called  the  Nieu  Nederlandt,  whereof  Cornells 


73 


Jacobz  May  of  Hoorn  was  skipper,  with  a  company  of  30  families, 
mostly  Walloons,  to  plant  a  Colony  there.  They  sailed  in  the 
beginning  of  March,  and  directing  their  course  by  the  Canary 
Islands  steered  towards  the  Wild  Coast  and  gained  the  west  wind 
which  luckily  took  them  in  the  beginning  of  May  into  the  river 
called  first  Rio  de  Montagnes,  now  the  River  Mauritius*  lying 
in  40%  degrees.  He  found  a  Frenchman  lying  in  the  mouth  of 
the  river  who  would  erect  the  arms  of  the  King  of  France  there ; 
but  the  Hollanders  would  not  permit  it,  forbidding  it  by  commis- 
sion from  the  Lords  States  General  and  the  Directors  of  the  West 
India  Company,  and  in  order  not  to  be  frustrated  therein,  and 
with  the  assistance  of  those  of  the  yacht  Maeckereel  which  had 
lain  above,  they  caused  a  yacht  of  two  guns  to  be  manned  and 
convoyed  the  Frenchman  out  of  the  river.  .  .  .  This  being 
done,  the  ship  sailed  up  to  the  Maykans,  44  leagues,  and  they 
built  and  completed  a  fort  named  Orange  with  four  bastions,  on 
an  island  by  them  called  Castle  Island.  They  forthwith  put  the 
spade  to  the  ground  and  began  to  plant,  and  before  the  Maeckereel 
sailed,  the  grain  was  nearly  as  high  as  a  man,  so  that  they  are 
bravely  advanced." 

As  the  Maeckereel  arrived  in  the  Hudson  River  in  December, 

1623,  and  was  found  here  by  the  New  Netherland  which  arrived 
in  May,  it  is  manifest  that  the  New  Netherland  arrived  in  May, 

1624,  not  May,  1623.  The  date  1624  is  confirmed  by  the  fact  that 
the  date  "  1624  "  is  printed  in  the  margin  of  the  original  Dutch 
edition  of  Wassenaer,  and  the  further  fact  that  under  the  head- 
ing of  February,  1624,  Wassenaer  foretold  the  sending  of  the 
colony,  saying  that  the  Dutch  were  "  intending  now  to  plant  a 
colony  among  the  Maikans." 

There  is  a  great  deal  more  evidence  to  confirm  the  date  of 
1624,  but  lack  of  space  forbids  its  elaboration.  Weise,  author 
of  the  History  of  Albany,  and  other  painstaking  historians, 
accept  that  date.  One  of  the  ablest  brief  monographs  on  this 
subject,  written  by  a  man  of  exceptional  ability  and  opportunity, 
is  a  paper  read  before  the  New  York  Society  of  the  Founders 
and  Patriots  of  America,  March  18,  1897,  by  George  Rogers 
Howell  of  Albany,  State  Archivist,  entitled  "  The  Date  of  the 
Settlement  of  the  Colony  of  New  York  "  and  printed  by  Charles 
Van  Benthuysen  &  Sons  of  Albany.    He  says  of  Wassenaer's 


*  This  was  the  Hudson  River,  called  Mauritius  after  Prince  Maurice  of 
Orange. 


74 


account :  "  This  narrative  as  to  date  is  so  explicit  as  to  fix  the 
date  of  the  first  settlement  beyond  all  question." 

De  Laet  in  1630,  the  Journal  of  New  Netherland  written  in 
1641-46  (Docs.  Eel.  Col.  Hist.  S.  N.  Y.  I,  181),  Van  der  Donck 
in  1649  (ibid.  283)  and  others  have  referred  to  the  building  of 
forts,  etc.,  in  1623  or  "  since  1623,"  but  one  statement  has  evi- 
dently been  the  child  of  its  predecessor,  and  all  based  either  on 
the  preparations  made  in  1623  for  the  colony  despatched  in 
1624,  or  on  the  specific  date  of  the  sailing  of  the  Maeckereel  in 
1623.  But  by  the  canon  of  historical  interpretation  previously 
laid  down,  these  statements  by  later  writers  cannot  compare  in 
acceptability  with  the  testimony  of  Wassenaer,  who,  being  equal 
or  superior  to  the  others  in  learning,  wrote  contemporaneously 
with  the  event  described  and  with  explicitness.  Jameson's  foot- 
note "  of  1623  "  on  page  75  of  his  Narratives  of  New  Netherland 
is  not  warranted  by  the  text  to  which  he  refers. 

Mr.  Paltsits,  in  a  communication  to  the  present  writer,  speak- 
ing of  the  date  of  the  first  settlement  of  New  Netherlands  says: 

"  The  matter  is  greatly  involved  and  has  required  the  finest 
kind  of  historical  criticism  to  run  down  the  errors  to  their  sources, 
in  which  even  interpolations  have  been  discovered  in  a  later 
verbiage  derived  from  De  Laet. 

"  The  first  permanent  colony  arrived  in  New  Netherland  in 
1624  (not  1623,  as  so  many  writers  give  the  year).  This  was  the 
colony  that  founded  Fort  Orange  (Albany)." 

Commercial  Prosperity  in  1624-1625 

The  colony  at  Fort  Orange  flourished  from  the  start,  and  when 
the  New  Netherland  returned  to  Holland  the  same  year,  its  news 
was  recorded  by  Wassenaer  as  follows: 

"As  regards  the  prosperity  of  New  Netherland,  we  learn  by 
the  arrival  of  the  ship  whereof  Jan  May  of  Hoorn  was  skipper, 
that  everything  there  was  in  good  condition.  The  colony  began  to 
advance  bravely  and  to  live  in  friendship  with  the  natives.  The 
fur  or  other  trade  remains  in  the  West  India  Company,  others 
being  forbidden  to  trade  there.  .  .  .  This  voyage  500  otter 
skins  and  1500  beavers  and  a  few  other  skins  were  brought 
thither,  which  were  sold  in  four  parcels  for  twenty-eight  thou- 
sand some  hundred  guilders." 

Elsewhere  Wassenaer  gives  the  date  of  sale  as  December  20, 


75 


1624.  De  Laet  in  his  Jaerlyck  Verhael  records  the  joint  cargoes 
of  two  ships  returning  this  year  as  having  contained  4,000 
beavers  and  700  otters  which  sold  for  25,000  to  27,000  guilders. 

De  Laet's  Jaerlyck  Verhael  also  records  the  receipt  of  5,295 
beavers  and  463  otters  from  New  Netherland  in  1625  which  sold 
for  35,825  guilders. 

Wassenaer  says  that  "  Cornells  May  of  Hoorn  was  the  first 
Director  there  in  1624;  Willem  van  Hulst  was  the  second  in  the 
year  1625."    (Narr.  New  Neth.  84.) 

The  Colony  Reinforced  in  1625 

The  ships  returning  to  the  Netherlands  from  the  Hudson  car- 
ried profitable  cargoes  and  encouraging  reports  of  the  prosperity 
of  the  Colony  at  Fort  Orange  and  in  April,  1625,  four  ships 
were  despatched  from  Holland  with  forty-five  persons,  and  103 
head  of  live  stock  for  the  new  plantation.  Wassenaer  described 
the  expedition  as  follows: 

"  Though  good  care  was  taken  by  the  Directors  of  the  West 
India  Company  in  the  spring  to  provide  everything  for  the  colony 
in  Virginia,  by  us  called  New  Netherland,  on  the  river  Mauritius 
near  the  Maykans,  an  extraordinary  shipment  was  sent  thither 
to  strengthen  it  with  what  was  needful  as  follows : 

aAs  the  country  is  well  adapted  for  agriculture  and  the  raising 
of  everything  that  is  produced  here,  the  aforesaid  gentlemen  re- 
solved to  take  advantage  of  the  circumstance  and  to  provide  the 
place  with  many  necessaries ;  through  the  worthy  Pieter  Evertsen 
Hulst,  who  undertook  to  ship  thither,  at  his  risk,  whatever  was 
asked  of  him,  to  wit,  103  head  of  live  stock  —  stallions,  mares, 
bulls  and  cows  —  for  breeding  and  multiplying,  besides  all  the 
hogs  and  sheep  that  they  thought  expedient  to  send  thither;  and 
to  distribute  these  in  two  ships  of  140  lasts,  in  such  a  manner 
that  they  should  be  well  foddered  and  attended  to.  Each  animal 
has  its  own  stall,  with  a  floor  of  three  feet  of  sand,  arranged  as 
comfortably  as  any  stall  here.  Each  animal  has  its  respective 
servant  who  attends  to  it  and  knows  what  he  is  to  get  if  he  de- 
livers it  there  alive.  All  suitable  forage  is  there,  such  as  oats, 
hay  and  straw,  and  what  else  is  useful. 

"  Country  people  have  also  joined  the  expeditions,  who  take 
with  them  all  furniture  proper  for  the  dairy;  all  sorts  of  seed, 
ploughs,  and  agricultural  implements  are  also  present,  so  that 
nothing  is  wanting. 


76 


"  What  is  most  remarkable  is,  that  nobody  in  the  two  ships 
can  discover  where  the  water  is  stowed  for  these  cattle.  In  order 
to  use  the  same  plan  another  time  if  needful,  I  shall  here  add  it: 
The  above-named  manager  caused  a  deck  to  be  constructed  in  the 
ship.  Beneath  this  were  stowed  in  each  ship  three  hundred  tuns 
of  fresh  water  which  was  pumped  up  and  thus  distributed  among 
the  cattle.  On  this  deck  lay  the  ballast,  and  thereupon  stood  the 
horses  and  bulls,  and  thus  there  was  nothing  wanting. 

"  He  added  the  third  ship  as  an  extra,  so  that,  should  the  voy- 
age, which  is  ordinarily  made  in  six  weeks,  continue  longer, 
nothing  should  be  wanting  and  he  should  be  able  to  fulfil  his 
contract.  ...  In  company  with  these  goes  a  fast  sailing  yacht 
at  the  risk  of  the  Directors. 

"  In  the  aforesaid  vessels  also  go  six  completely  equipped  fami- 
lies, with  some  single  persons,  so  that  45  new  comers  are  taken 
out  to  remain  there."    (Narr.  New  Neth.  79-80.) 

In  July,  1625,  a  small  ship  arrived  in  Holland  laden  with 
furs  and  bringing  favorable  news  of  the  crops  and  good  order  in 
New  Netherland ;  but  the  vessels  with  the  cattle  had  not  reached 
the  Hudson  when  the  ship  left.  In  November,  1625,  however, 
a  ship  returned  to  Holland,  laden  with  peltries,  and  reported  the 
safe  arrival  of  the  cattle  ships.  "  Only  two  animals  died  on  the 
passage.  This  gave  great  satisfaction  to  the  freighter  who  had 
managed  the  transaction,"  says  Wassenaer,  who  gives  further 
particulars  as  follows : 

"  These  cattle  were,  on  their  arrival,  first  landed  on  Nut 
Island,*  three  miles  up  the  river,  where  they  remained  a  day  or 
two.  There  being  no  means  of  pasturing  them  there,  they  were 
shipped  in  sloops  and  boats  to  the  Manhattes  right  opposite  the 
said  island.  Being  put  out  to  pasture  here,  they  throve  well  but 
afterward  full  twenty  in  all  died.  The  opinion  is  that  they  had 
eaten  something  bad  from  uncultivated  soil.  But  they  went  in 
the  middle  of  September  to  meadow  grass  as  good  and  as  long  as 
could  be  desired." 

No  specific  mention  is  made  concerning  the  disposition  of 
families  who  came  over  in  1625,  but  as  Wassenaer  says  they 
were  for  the  colony  "  near  the  Maykans,"  that  is,  the  Mohawks, 
it  is  to  be  presumed  that  they  all  went  up  to  Fort  Orange. 
Whether  the  cattle  were  taken  up  the  river  after  September,  or 
whether  they  were  left  on  Manhattan  during  the  winter  is  not 


*  Governor's  Island  in  New  York  Harbor. 


77 


stated.  Mr.  Paltsits'  view  is  expressed  in  the  following  passage 
in  a  communication  to  the  writer: 

"  The  second  set  of  colonists  arrived  in  1625,  and  on  the  way 
to  Fort  Orange  stopped  a  few  days  at  Noten  (now  Governor's) 
Island  to  pasture  the  cattle,  but  the  cattle  were  on  that  island 
only  a  day  or  two  when  they  were  removed  to  Manhattan  to  pas- 
ture and  the  colonists  went  off  to  Fort  Orange.  The  cattle  were 
on  Manhattan  only  a  few  wreeks ;  some  died  from  poisonous  herbs 
and  the  remainder  were  taken  up  the  Hudson  to  Fort  Orange." 

Permanent  Settlement  of  New  Amsterdam  in  1626 

Upon  the  facade  of  the  New  Municipal  Building  in  New  York 
City  is  the  inscription  "  New  Amsterdam  MDCXXVI,"  the  date 
of  the  permanent  settlement  of  Manhattan  Island  and  the  crown- 
ing event  of  the  series  which  we  have  been  discussing. 

On  December  19,  1625,  Peter  Minuit  and  a  fully  equipped 
colonial  government  set  sail  from  Amsterdam  on  the  ship  Sea 
Mew,  commanded  by  Skipper  Adriaen  Joris.  Being  detained  by 
ice,  the  Sea  Mew  did  not  clear  the  Texel  till  January  9,  1626. 
Evidently  the  ship  took  a  roundabout  course,  for  the  voyage, 
usually  made  in  seven  or  eight  weeks,  according  to  Wassenaer 
(Narr.  New  Neth.  68)  occupied  four  months,  and  Minuit  landed 
May  4,  1626.    (Ibid.  87.) 

What  happened  between  May  4  and  September  23  is  best  told 
in  the  words  of  an  extraordinary  document  which  may  be  called 
the  Certificate  of  Birth  of  New  York  City,  namely,  the  Schagen 
Letter.  On  November  4,  1626,  the  ship  Arms  of  Amsterdam 
arrived  at  Amsterdam  with  the  news  of  the  purchase  of  Man- 
hattan Island  and  the  planting  of  New  Amsterdam.  The  very 
next  day  Peter  Schagen  addressed  to  "  Messieurs  the  States  Gen- 
eral, in  The  Hague,"  the  following  letter  (facsimile  in  Wilson's 
Memorial  History  of  New  York)  : 

"  High  Mighty  Sirs : 

"  Here  arrived  yesterday  the  ship  the  Arms  of  Amsterdam 
which  sailed  from  New  Netherland  out  of  the  Mauritius  Eiver 
on  September  23.  They  report  that  our  people  there  are  of  good 
courage  and  live  peaceably.  The  women,  also,  have  borne  chil- 
dren there.    They  have  bought  the  Island  Manhattes  from  the 


78 


wild  men  for  the  value  of  sixty  guilders,*  is  11,000  morgen  in 
extent.  They  sowed  all  their  grain  in  the  middle  of  May  and 
harvested  it  in  the  middle  of  August.  Thereof  being  samples  of 
summer  grain  such  as  wheat,  rye,  barley,  oats,  buckwheat,  canary 
seed,  small  beans  and  flax.  The  cargo  of  the  aforesaid  ship  is: 
7246  beaver  skins,  178%  otter  skins,  675  otter  skins,  48  mink 
skins,  36  wild-cat  (lynx)  skins,  33  minks,  34  rat  skins.  Many 
logs  of  oak  and  nutwood. 

"  In  Amsterdam,  November  5,  Ao.  1626. 

"  Your  High  Might's  Obedient 

"  P.  ScHAGEN." 

De  Laet's  Jaerlyck  Verhael  states  that  7,258  beavers  and  857 
otters,  etc.,  received  in  1626,  sold  for  45,050  guilders. 

Wassenaer,  under  November,  1626,  gives  further  particulars 
as  follows: 

"  The  Colony  is  now  established  on  the  Manhates,  where  a  fort 
has  been  staked  out  by  Master  Kryn  Frederycks,  an  engineer.  It 
is  planned  to  be  of  large  dimensions.  .  .  .  The  counting  house 
there  is  kept  in  a  stone  building  thatched  with  reed;  the  other 
houses  are  of  the  bark  of  trees.  Each  has  his  own  house.  The 
Director  and  Koopman  live  together.  There  are  30  ordinary 
houses  on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  which  runs  nearly  north  and 
south.  The  Honorable  Peter  Minuit  is  Director  there  at  present ; 
Jan  Lempou  Schout;  Sebastiaen  Jansz.  Crol  and  Jan  Huych 
comforters  of  the  sick,  who,  whilst  awaiting  a  clergyman,  reads 
to  the  commonalty  there  on  Sundays  texts  of  Scripture  and  the 
commentaries.  Francois  Molemaecker  is  busy  building  a  horse- 
mill,  over  which  shall  be  constructed  a  spacious  room  sufficient 
to  accommodate  a  large  congregation,  and  then  a  tower  is  to  be 
erected  where  the  bells  brought  from  Porto  Kico  will  be  hung. 

"  The  council  there  administers  justice  in  criminal  matters  as 
far  as  imposing  fines  but  not  as  far  as  corporal  punishment. 
Should  it  happen  that  anyone  deserves  that,  he  must  be  sent  to 
Holland  with  his  sentence.  .  .  .  Everyone  there  who  fills  no  pub- 
lic office  is  busy  about  his  own  affairs.  Men  work  there  as  in  Hol- 
land. One  trades  upwards,  southwards  and  northwards;  another 
builds  houses;  the  third  farms.  Each  farmer  has  his  farmstead 
on  the  land  purchased  by  the  Company,  which  also  owns  the  cows ; 
but  the  milk  remains  to  the  profit  of  the  farmer.  He  sells  it  to 
those  of  the  people  who  receive  their  wages  for  work  every  week. 

*  Sixty  guilders  usually  stated  to  be  equivalent  to  $24.  In  1903,  the 
New  York  Title  Guarantee  and  Trust  Company  reckoned  that  if  the  Indians 
had  invested  that  $24  at  6%  compound  interest,  it  would  have  amounted  in 
1903  to  $310,470,286.80. 


79 


The  houses  of  the  Hollanders  now  stand  outside  the  fort,  but 
when  that  is  completed,  they  will  all  repair  within  so  as  to  gar- 
rison it  and  be  secure  from  sudden  attack.  .  .  .  When  the  fort 
staked  out  at  the  Manhates  is  completed,  it  is  to  be  named 
Amsterdam." 

That  it  was  designed  to  make  the  Manhattan  settlement  the 
chief  center  of  New  Netherland  and  to  draw  in  the  colonists  from 
the  Delaware  River  on  the  south  and  Fort  Orange  on  the  north 
is  shown  by  Wassenaer  under  the  same  date  of  November,  1626. 

Of  Fort  Nassau  on  the  Delaware  River  he  says : 

"  Those  of  the  South  river  will  abandon  their  fort  and  come 
hither.  .  .  .  The  fort  at  the  South  river  is  already  vacated,  in 
order  to  strengthen  the  Colony.  Trading  there  is  carried  on  only 
in  yachts,  in  order  to  avoid  expense." 

Of  Fort  Orange  he  says: 

"At  Fort  Orange,  the  most  northerly  point  at  which  the  Hol- 
landers traded,  no  more  than  fifteen  or  sixteen  men  will  remain. 
The  remainder  will  come  down.    .    .  ." 

Here  Wassenaer  interjects  an  account  of  a  war  in  1626  be- 
tween the  Mohawks  and  Mohicans,  in  which  Commander  Kriecke- 
beeck  went  with  the  Mohicans.  Krieckebeeck  and  three  of  his 
men  were  killed.    Wassenaer  continues : 

"  There  being  no  commander,  Pieter  Barentsen  assumed  com- 
mand of  Fort  Orange  by  order  of  Director  Minuit.  There  were 
eight  families  there  and  ten  or  twelve  seamen  in  the  Company's 
service.  The  families  were  to  leave  there  this  year, —  the  fort  to 
remain  garrisoned  by  sixteen  men  without  women  —  in  order  to 
strengthen  with  people  the  colony  near  the  Manhates  who  are 
becoming  more  accustomed  to  the  strangers." 

Concerning  the  authentic  date  of  the  settlement  of  Manhattan 
Island,  the  late  Gen.  James  Grant  Wilson,  author  of  the  Memorial 
History  of  New  York,  wrote  to  the  present  writer  shortly  before 
his  death:  "The  first  settlement  of  the  City  was  not  in  1613 
but  thirteen  years  later,  in  1626." 

Mr.  Robert  H.  Kelby,  Librarian  of  the  venerable  New  York 
Historical  Society,  writes:  "All  the  documents  published  and 
the  standard  histories  of  New  York  show  conclusively  that  Man- 


80 


hattan  Island  was  first  permanently  settled  by  the  Dutch  in  1626. 
The  visits  of  transient  traders  prior  to  1626  should  not  be 
regarded  as  the  first  permanent  settlement  of  the  island." 

We  have  previously  quoted  Prof.  Henry  P.  Johnston,  Pro- 
fessor of  History  of  the  College  of  the  City  of  New  York,  and 
Mr.  James  A.  Holden,  State  Historian,  to  the  same  effect. 

Mr.  Victor  Hugo  Paltsits,  formerly  State  Historian,  concurs 
with  these  emphatic  words: 

"  No  settlements  whatever  were  made  on  Manhattan  Island  by 
Europeans  until  its  occupation  by  Pieter  Minuit  and  his  colony 
in  May,  1626.  The  tercentenary  of  the  occupation  of  Manhattan 
by  the  white  race  should  be  held  in  May,  1926,  or  its  purchase 
from  the  Indians  by  the  Dutch  West  India  Company  may  be 
celebrated  in  the  summer  of  1926.  .  .  .  These  data  and  con- 
clusions* are  based  wholly  upon  an  intimate  study  of  the  original 
source  materials  —  the  only  primary  sources  known  for  the  early 
history  of  the  City  and  the  beginning  of  the  Dutch  settlements 
in  New  Netherland.  I  may  add  that  I  have  been  engaged  almost 
daily  for  over  a  year  and  a  half  in  studying  tha  original  ma- 
terials related  to  the  history  of  Manhattan  Island  during  the 
Dutch  Regime." 

Having  brought  this  outline  history  down  to  the  founding  of 
New  Amsterdam,  we  may  let  the  narrative  rest.  It  only  remains 
to  say  —  again  on  the  authority  of  our  learned  and  helpful 
friend  Wassenaer  —  that  two  years  later,  the  European  popula- 
tion of  Manhattan  Island  was  "  270  souls,  men,  women,  and 
children and  on  the  authority  of  a  letter  by  Isaac  de  Kasieres, 
that  the  native  population  of  "  the  old  Manhattans  "  was  "  about 
200  to  300  strong,  women  and  men,  under  different  chiefs  whom 
they  call  Sackimas." 

From  this  little  beginning  has  grown  a  City  of  nearly  6,000,000 
population  —  almost  equal  to  that  of  the  Netherlands!  to-day  — 
of  which  it  may  be  said,  in  the  words  of  the  great  Hebrew 
prophet  Isaiah: 

"  She  is  a  Mart  of  Nations.  .  .  .  The  crowning  City,  who.^ 
merchants  are  princes,  whose  traffickers  are  the  honorable  of  the 
earth/' 

*  Referring  to  all  quotations  from  him  in  the  present  paper. 

fThe  population  of  the  Netherlands  January  1,  1912,  was  5,900,000.  The 
population  of  New  York  City,  January  1,  1914  (World  Almanac)  was 
5,583,871,  and  including  its  Westchester  and  New  Jersey  suburbs  7,383,871. 


